Uh Oh, We Need a New Mainsail!

Upon our return to Crown Bay in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, we noticed a 12 inch gash about a third of the way up the mainsail towards the mast. This was not good news! When our boat was inspected prior to purchase, the report indicated that the mainsail was at its "half life." But when we sailed it the first time, we could see that it was beyond that.

Kent called Quantum Sails and the salesman showed up at our boat promptly the next morning. After some discussion and a lot of measuring, we got the estimate: $11,200 including delivery and installation. Ouch! Our mast is 59 feet tall and the mainsail covers over 1,000 square feet, so we weren't totally surprised at the cost. We ordered the sail. Kent and I hadn't planned on this extra cost so soon and hoped the sail would last another year or two. Oh well! It's kind of like buying a house and then finding out that you need a new roof. You gotta have the new roof.

The new sail is being made in Sri Lanka, interestingly, and will take a few weeks from order date to installation. So, we will not be able to depart from the Virgin Islands as soon as we expected. We plan to be in the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands until at least May 1. (I know--poor us!) The damaged sail has been temporarily patched and won't keep us from sailing in the Virgin Islands while we wait for our new sail.

In the meantime, we bid farewell to our friends, Karen and Walter, who returned to more Winter in Chicago.

We look forward to sailing around the British Virgin Islands with our next visitors, our son Ian and his wife Cassie!