We have been waiting, and waiting to get the last few things done to the boat.  Today, a replacement fan was installed for the port engine and our new sail was delivered.  We had a shocking surprise when the riggers told us a few days ago that our mainsail was falling apart from sun damage.  They had taken it to be cut down to fit the lower mast, after we had two feet cut off.  We moved aboard Seas the Day in August, 2008.  She had come over from France with a delivery crew arriving in Ft. Lauderdale in May, 2008.  It is highly unusual, in fact just about impossible, for a mainsail to be shredding from sun damage in this amount of time.  In our case, it is even more unlikely. We have only used it for two round trips to Charleston from Ft. Lauderdale in the past two years.  That’s about 10 days a year with the mainsail up. Other than those short trips, the sail was zipped up in a sailbag.  We are extremely careful with our sails.    When we do use the mainsail, we put it back in its sailbag and zip it up every night.  It was used daily for a few months after we purchased it when we left Ft. Lauderdale and traveled via the Gulf of Mexico and then the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Corpus Christi, Texas.  We came back to Florida in the spring and up to Charleston which took about another month of sailing.  The only other time we used it consistently was crossing to the Bahamas (one day) and spending five months there.  However, we spent one month in Georgetown and one month in Spanish Wells with the sail in the bag.  In between, we did little sailing....just a few hours between islands and then staying in one place for days or weeks. 

So, how did this happen?  We have a theory but probably shouldn’t put it in writing on the Internet.  Suffice it to say that we are pretty certain that we did not get a new sail when we took possession of our new boat.  In fact, there is no way that this was a new sail.  We’ve talked to people whose sails are 25 years old and still in good condition.  We know there is nothing we did to cause sun damage to the mainsail.  No one could have been more careful with it than we have been and in three years and eight months of living on this boat, we have used the sails far less than average cruisers.  That is mainly because we have given up two years of cruising waiting to have the propulsion conversion done.

The riggers were shocked when they started to work on the sail and saw the condition.  They thought it must be 8 or 9 years old, at least, to have this much sun damage and even then, with good care it should still be in excellent shape after those many years.  This is a good quality North brand sail, even more reason that it shouldn’t be falling apart.  We were able to get a used two year old sail off a Lagoon 440 (44 ft) because the owner got a furling boom which required a new sail.  We paid less than 1/3 the price of a new sail and the riggers (from a very reputable company) tell us it is in very good condition.  Of course it had to be cut down, but that would have happened with our old sail too, as the mast was shorter.  This sail is a “fathead” which has a flat top.  Some of the newer boats are getting this design now.

Overall, we are glad to have the work finally finished so we can now escape from Ft. Lauderdale.  Yesterday we drove our SUV to Stuart and stored it until we get to Sunset Bay Marina in June.  We rented a car to drive up and back here (cheaper than a “one way” rental) and turned that in today.  For the first time in two years, we are without a car.  For the last week we have tried to think of everything we need which required a car trip and have made many trips to BJ’s Wholesale Club, grocery stores, marine stores, Walmart, etc. We still have our bikes and our feet to get to places. 

Tomorrow, at the 10:30 am slack tide (current is very strong in the New River), we will motor down the river and anchor for the night in Lake Sylvia, a very small lake near the inlet to the ocean.  Our good friends Lynn and Shelley, owners of the Lagoon 420 Anything’s Pawsible just arrived there having returned from the Bahamas.  We’ve never had the chance to travel with them, and look forward to  sailing down into the Keys and across to the Gulf, then north to at least Marco Island, where they spend hurricane season.