A stitch in time is a good thing they say.
I cannot disagree, I wish that someone had done just that on the white junk sail.
'Butterfly,' my little Coromandel, has the original professionally made junk sail which must be at least 33 years old.
The sail has been patched more than once, but not recently.
Now several wooden battens have burst, or are threatening to burst through the sun-rotted cloth so something must be done.
Sewing damaged sails is not a new experience to me (most cruising sailors have done it) but this looks like darning spider webs!
Fortunately there is something called ‘Heavy duty sail repair tape’ which is now a must-have part of my JR kit.
The trick I discovered was to cut a finger-length piece of tape and curl it around my finger (sticky side out) then slide into the threadbare batten pocket and stick to the inside. Then another piece was stuck to the outside and Bob was my proverbial.
Sewing this newly extended pocket to the leach was a bit of a battle, even with proper needles and a sail-makers-palm, but it was done and the results were sound.
The temptation to go mad and get a new sail (which I cannot afford) grows day by day!
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