A large hole in the water into which you pour money...

Sailing. That thing you dream of doing as you sit on the dock, covered in sweat and filth, ruminating on the size of the latest pile of money you have had to pour into the "love of your life"...

So I got a new forestay made. Couldn't get any 5/8" cable, so up-sized slightly to 16mm - hey, the beyond-stupidly-over-built approach has served Kamalii well all these years, so why stop now? Then, of course, it turns out all our turnbuckles are 14 threads-per-inch, and we could only get 1" studs in 12tpi, so we had to have the stud custom made. Oh, and did I mention that a forestay that size is really bloody expensive?!

24m of brand new forestay. Oooh, so shiny...

I'll admit that, disregarding the cost, it is a nice feeling knowing that my forestay is no longer of questionable provenance.

The furler needed some TLC. I had to replace one section of the foil (fortunately Kamalii came with a spare) and I replaced one of the bushes in the swivel, which has made a huge difference in how easy it travels along the foil. With the new forestay we were able to remove the extra toggle at the stem that had been inserted when the old forestay was cut short, and as a result the furler unit now sits 95mm lower which has resulted in a much better fairlead angle for the jib halyard.

Putting it all back together.

I had to machine out a seized grub screw on the lower bearing unit, sort out the top bearing retainer, etc, etc....and two weeks goes by. Anyway, on the weekend we hauled her back up, and it all looks good. I am waiting on one more part to finish off reassembling the drum unit, and then we will haul the jib and see how she goes. Fingers crossed. I really, really, really want to go sailing...