‘Ladybird’ Again

They look OK, but two of them failed

A few new stitches at the head of the mainsail

Neat finish with glued sailcloth

I didn’t visit ‘Ladybird’ today, but her owner did. She did a little more varnishing. I just hope it thoroughly dried before the arrival of rain this evening.


I did my bit by making a few simple repairs to ‘Ladybird’s’ sails. Considering their age, which must be at least 10 years, they are in remarkably good condition. The sails took a bit of a bashing last season when I sailed the boat to Falmouth and back from Burnham-on-Crouch. The only parts requiring attention were a small section along the luff of the roller Genoa and a few stitches needed at the head of the mainsail by the luff rope.


I broke two needles in the process! Particularly difficult was the very thick section of the Genoa at the luff. I finally tidied it by gluing a piece of sailcloth around the luff with Evo-stik. That worked well, and looked quite smart.


Prior to me repairing the sails my daughter bought a packet of sailmaker’s needles at a cost of £7.94, which seemed exorbitant for ten needles. She’ll be surprised I managed to break two of them; one couldn’t withstand pressure on the eye when being thrust through the sail and the other bent. So much for W. Smith and Son’s handmade needles! A note on the label of the container says they were made of ‘Forged Best Cast Steel’. Under the address, Redditch, England, is the word, ‘Warranted’, whatever that may mean.