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Russ, I’ve always been a big dog person. She came with the significant other. But I’ll admit she’s growing on me.

Jimmy it was good. Real good to be back out. We cruised, we anchored, we played and swam. Gotta do more of that. It was some great father/son time.

Today was a day I’ve been semi dreading. Time to see how bad the sails really are. So we pulled them out. The main is definitely shot:





There are several places like that where the rats chewed holes.

I didn’t take pictures of the jib because it’s in surprisingly good shape. I didn’t want to spread it on the grass and dirty it up. Anyway, it’s original and probably blown out but it’s usable.

We’re also cleaning and inspecting the mast. One spreader is bent slightly. I haven’t noticed that before. It’s functional but will annoy me. Surprisingly the rest looks pretty good overall.





For those following, if you’ve bought a new main for your X I’d love your input. There are a dizzying array of choices. Which loft, what material (I’m just a cruiser); loose footed or no? How many reef points? I’m so lost here trying to reconcile my wants vs. my needs against my budget.

hart wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 10:26 am For those following, if you’ve bought a new main for your X I’d love your input. There are a dizzying array of choices. Which loft, what material (I’m just a cruiser); loose footed or no? How many reef points? I’m so lost here trying to reconcile my wants vs. my needs against my budget.

I have same question about loose footed, if anyone cares to share the benefits of loose footed. Otherwise time for me to search the forum.

You might want to consider changing the name - use your wife's name or children's names in the boat name for good luck. The best luck is to use two female names together and it's even better luck if both females are related to you. Some guys swear good luck by using their mothers name.

I have sailed two boats named "Wind Song" and three others with the word "Wind" in the name all with tragic results. I have a bad taste in my mouth on that one. Changing the names made all the difference.

A footless main is good if you sail in areas with high wind speeds - they reef a little easier and you can use the out-haul more effectively on a footless main to depower or shape the sail. Some feel sail handling is easier without a foot too (I tend to agree).

For light winds or racing or if you want every last ounce of power and speed go with a bolted foot and a bolted luff.

If you do go with a footless main get it made in a heavier material than the stock main.

BOAT, I very much appreciate the insight on the foot. Thanks! That helps more than you know.

BOAT wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:14 pm I have sailed two boats named "Wind Song" and three others with the word "Wind" in the name all with tragic results. I have a bad taste in my mouth on that one. Changing the names made all the difference.

5 boats?!? Was it their names or the other common denominator?

So a brief history on Wind Song. The original owner purchased her new in 2001 and sailed out of Pensacola, Fl before moving to Texas. I bought her in 2006 from that owner and trailered her back - in a real sense - home. As most of my sailing is either in or near Pensacola.

I wasn’t real keen on the name at time of purchase and often thought of changing it. But people recognize her. And at this point my relationship with her has lasted longer than about any other I’ve had. I guess it’s grown on me.

OUCH!!!!

Yeah. That’s the worst spot. I count 17 individual holes in the sail overall but most are small. It will be ugly as all get out but we’re gonna try taping them up for now until I can order a new sail.

hart wrote: ↑Thu Jun 18, 2020 6:34 am Yeah. That’s the worst spot. I count 17 individual holes in the sail overall but most are small. It will be ugly as all get out but we’re gonna try taping them up for now until I can order a new sail.

I would sail it as it is - looks better - try some black spray paint on the sails too. You can scare people at the marina.

The children's sailing school in Los Alamitos had a Sabot called 'Wind Song' and I raced it when I was 9 and lost. My dad always named his boats females but when he got an A23 he named it 'Wind Song' and that season we had bad luck on the sea. THe other skippers made fun of us because of the boats name so dad changed the name to 'Frantastic'. (My mom was "Fran"). We started winning regattas after that. You can see in this picture the blue boat named Wind Song - that was dad's boat - and right in front of that boat is another boat called "Wind SONG" with the round life preserver on the transom - you can just make out the 'SONG' part of the name. That's the Coombs boat - I was hanging out with their 13 year old daughter (I was 14 at the time) and I crewed their boat several times - wow, bad things happen around females - I won't go there. I liked that girl but I was stupid. (Sailed that blue Balboa 26 next to the Coombs boat too - man that was a GREAT boat.)



Then years later when I was 16 one fine morning on the way to Avalon we encountered a Jensen 29 off Long Beach on it's side. The entire keel fell off! It had an Atomic 4 that broke the motor mounts and twisted right through the hull. (Those were gas engines). I had to ride that boat all the way to Long Beach cuz my dad towed it in. The boat's name was 'Windmere'. When i was a young engineer at Westinghouse in my 20's one of the other gear reps had a club membership in Marina Del Rey to take customer sailing and the boats were all old Cal 25 Flush decks. I was asked to go a lot because I could sail. We sailed a boat called 'Windrider'. It sank.

Don't put tape on the sails - it makes you look dumb - you will look like a scary pirate who does not care if you display the holes and tears for everyone to see. You should attach some loose pieces of fabric in various places on the sail to give the look that the sail is tearing apart - that will scare the crap out of the other skippers as you sail past them.

I should dye the sails black and add some red blood stains.

That is one heck of a picture.

Speaking of awkward boat names, my mother bought a com-pac 16 years ago and named it meno-paws. I get it. Older lady sailing with her dog. But I felt awkward as hull when I was single handing that boat and people stared at me funny.

hart wrote: ↑Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:09 am I should dye the sails black and add some red blood stains.

That is one heck of a picture.

Speaking of awkward boat names, my mother bought a com-pac 16 years ago and named it meno-paws. I get it. Older lady sailing with her dog. But I felt awkward as hull when I was single handing that boat and people stared at me funny.

Yeah, your doing a real good job restoring that old X boat so it's going to turn out nice. When we were kids and could not afford to fix up old junk boats that we would by for 200 bucks we would just paint them. One of them we painted flames all around the water line so it looked like the boat was on fire. One of the guys that bought the boat sailed it out into the oceans and sunk it because he could not afford to fix it. You would be amazed how many old fiberglass boats there are on the bottom of the Gulf of Santa Catalina because people could no longer afford the slip and could not sell the boat. It's a secret little spoken of around the marina here but often a new boat owner wants a slip and does not wait in the 2 year waiting line for a slip so they buy a derelict boat in the marina and after a few weeks the boat just "disappears".... and then a new boat appears in the slip - (things that make you go Hmmm..) At 2687 feet no one will ever find them. (See coordinates: 32.948616, -117.717374 - we call it 'The Del Mar Graveyard') Someday some one will dive on that spot and see hundreds of wrecks.

Last minute off day so I’m working on the boat’s oxidation issues:



First I cleaned the hull with Starbrite hull cleaner, then did some spot cleaning with Barkeeper’s Friend.



I set up a work area with a shade tent and fan. I’m using 3M Cleaner/Wax. It has a mild rubbing compound.

Two buffers. One to apply the product and one to remove it. Yeah, I know there are better buffers but I’m working with what I’ve got.



I spilled my beer. Dammit.



Making some headway.

3M's finesse-it products are amazing at restoring it and maintaining it as well, pricey but have worked wonders for me.

Oh yeah. I’ve seen some miracles using Finesse It II. I’m not sure mine is bad enough to warrant it though. We’ll find out in about a month.

Regarding sail purchase, I recommend you give BWY a call and talk with them before you buy. Todd and Cheryl know the boat better than anyone, and they have a nice range of sails available. They can advise which way to go, based on your sailing desires. I have bought both main and jib from them before, and have always been pleased with both their knowledge and the quality of the sails.

Thanks Chinook. They are on my list to talk to for sure.