We’re back on board in Itchenor (South of England) getting ready for this year’s cruise. Weather is lovely - like summer actually as its 24 degrees and sunny, flowers blooming etc. Its even a holiday weekend!

Not much maintenance to do - just checking over systems ...

but I do have some NEW PROJECTS that didn’t get sorted last year

Carbon Downwind Pole - Lovely! - beautifully tapered at each end. Carbon might seem like a big expense on a downwind pole but the value is not so much performance as just being able to handle it. This pole is quite a bit lighter than our aluminum pole from our 37 footer Two-Step. So its much longer and stronger but lighter to lift and handle when setting it. I like to store the pole vertically on the mast so we have added a mast track and car to store it. To store on the mast the pole has a socket arrangement to connect it to the mast car. This allows for articulation without jamming when you set the pole (as opposed to a hook/piston going over a ring on the mast)

New Propellor - we sailed last year with a standard 3 bladed fixed propellor and really felt the drag. It is like towing a 20 inch diameter bucket around. We have a shiny new Autoprop this year and are anxious to test it out. Here David of Bruntons (who make the Autoprop) shows me how the bladed rotate to automatically find the correct pitch.