The video below is our oar practice the week before we fitted the rowlocks, the oars wear tide to the winches, Fergus trapped his head between the handle and the bulk head at one point, ouch, rowlocks would be a worthy safety addition.

Sat 21 june

This Saturday was a great day. We put the spinnaker up for the first time with the help of our experienced spinnaker flying houseguest. Having just finished adapting the length of a donated aluminum pole with a wooden shaft and swallowing hard at the price of the gun metal mast foot pole fitting on its sliding rail and fitting it, we wear ready to give it a go. Fergus assisted with the spinnaker lift and retrieval, pretty good for a 9 yr old, I was very proud and he loved it, he also had control of the port control line which he loved. He had direct control of the shoot on a run and could see very quickly the reaction of the sail to his line control.

We also had the pleasure of fitting the gunmetal rowlocks, silky smooth to handle and they worked beautifully. We nearly made it out of the harbor if it was not for the lack of way in swapping about rowers so much and the wind. Practice controlling the boat with loss of the engine, this has to be a good move. Fergus and Freyja have adopted the names from swallows and amazons ‘Port’ and ‘Starboard’ and adopt engine positions eagerly.