The team working away at the re caulking job are cracking on at quite a pace. Now all the black rubber had been removed, they are busy reefing out the seams and evening them up so when it comes to re caulk, our new black lines will be super smart and exactly the same width all the way down the deck. Thankfully this part of the process is a little more peaceful than the constant drone of the power tools that dominated much of last week. If we went to sea now we would be a very leaky boat that is for sure.
The bottom paint is now all gone and Dorade is ready to be faired and re painted with some slick baltoplate antifoul. So much work has gone into the sail development program to ensure we have the best possible sail power in a wide range of conditions and now it is time to get the bottom in the best shape it has ever been in. Every fraction of a knot will help the team in their race across the Atlantic this summer.
Inside the boat, Nick has prepped the bilges for a touch up. Not at all a glamorous job but an important one. By the time he has finished, Dorade will have bilges you could eat your dinner out of!
As we prepare to decamp to England for the summer, I have purchased a new 40 foot container so that we can essentially set ourselves up as a self sufficient workshop at our base on Cowes on the Isle of Wight. As our sail wardrobe has expanded and team’s schedule has become more ambitious, we have grown out of our 20 footer. I am sure both the race crew and shore team will appreciate the new space, in particular the galley area complete with coffee machine.
So while we might not look very pretty right now a lot is going on and we are making excellent progress towards our re launch date at the end of April
Hannah