… darn it. The gorgeous sunshine has temporarily deserted us. Today, Durban sits under a heavy lumpen sky – one that’s got rain a-plenty in store. And as is the way of things, as the clouds stomped in, so the wind upped and fled. Rain and no breeze is not a tempting combo for sailing, so today we and the sailing school guys stayed indoors and brushed up on navigation and theory. Tomorrow’s forecast is even worse – much talk of yet more rain, but with hazardous conditions and 18ft waves. Not much fun in a 34ft mono with slippery decks. Gosh, our nav skills will be awesome!
In search of some fresh (if rather damp) air, Dick and I used our lunch break to go see what’s to do aboard Butterfly. The sunshades are on now, which are rather sleek, and the floor protection covering has been removed. Ken and co still finalising the electrics – though nearly done now. Yesterday was a bank holiday here, but Steven used the peace and quiet to visit the boat and draw up a snag list of things that need tweaking to make sure she’s A1. So the floor wraps (we think) were removed for that purpose. One of the things we’ve really appreciated has been the way we’ve been given access to the boat whenever we’ve wanted it. Other boat manufacturers don’t necessarily do that. Usually, customers are allocated one visit and that’s that. But Gideon and Steven have an open door policy which doesn’t necessarily make life easier for them, but it certainly does for us. We also appreciate that things don’t always go right first time – especially on a newish design, and one where many changes have been installed during production – and so we’ve asked to be told the bad news along with the good. Or shall we say, the problems and challenges (such an overworked euphemism that!) – as well as the successes. Again, when we’ve asked, we’ve mostly been given that information. Why do we value hearing both the ups and the downs? Because, It would be completely unreasonable to expect everything to go according to plan all the time. But if you know what difficulties are/were encountered, and what solutions are/were devised to solve those difficulties – well, apart from that information being of possible future use (should something go awry that relates to earlier problems), it creates a sense of confidence that nothing is being hidden from you. Conversely, always being told that everything is wonderful just doesn’t ring true and undermines customer confidence. Perhaps other customers might prefer to be spared the news warts and all, which is fine, of course, but for ourselves, we like the facts served up unselectively and without a hefty dose of spin garnish! After all, providing problems are recognised, acknowledged and then solved satisfactorily, what’s not to like, eh?
Keeping to the above theme, it was apparent when we last visited the boat that the genoa wasn’t going to sit right over the spreaders, so Gideon has very kindly organised an entirely new sail, rather than re-cutting the existing one. The new one will be Spectra – an excellent material and an upgrade from the original which was to be of Pentex (still, very good stuff). Now Gideon, I’m sure won’t mind my mentioning it, has a certain reputation for saying ‘there are no problems, only solutions’. A man, you will note, who walks the walk, too.
Changing tack here: with busy days, there is always much catching up to do at night on things domestic. And over recent days that all means I’ve have had so little time for photography, I’ve got severe camera withdrawal symptoms. So much so, that I’ve promised myself a little pixel play on the computer, this evening. Dick, playing hero again, will be swotting up on the requirements for the DOC licence – more of which at a later date (news that won’t be quite as dull as it sounds, honestly). Anyhoo, given that we have so little news for you at the moment – well none that’s exactly riveting – I hope you’ll excuse us if we love you and leave you till a little later.
Have a good evening, all!
Edit: 27.06.08 – Learn tonight that due to a little slip of the Gideon tongue, the new genoa to be of Pentex, NOT Spectra.
RSS - Posts