Yesterday it was completely calm and in the afternoon we decided to use the opportunity and lower the foresail, because we had seen a few chafed areas on the yankee last time we were sailing and we wanted to put some tape there before a real damage occurred. When we had the sail down we realised that it was already too late, the leech line had chafed several metres through the edge of the sail. Ouch. We were not sure whether our Pfaff house-hold sewing machine would manage the thick sail (6 layers), but the tough all-metal machine from the 70s bravely zigzaged through the strong material (not without some squeaky complaints, but that’s our Miss Pfaff…). Amazing how often we need the sewing machine that we bought more as an afterthought before setting out. I had not touched a sewing machine before we went cruising, but fortunately the Pfaff is as simple as it gets, so no special training required.
It was already getting dark when we finished the job, but we managed to get the sail back up before the sunset. I celebrated this successful day by spilling a full cup of cacao on the kitchen counter which is on top of the (top-loading) fridge. An hour of self-induced happy cleaning followed.
