Race Saving Ideas from P&B South!
 

Last weekend while out practising in the Merlin we were going upwind and had the sudden realisation that the rudder was no longer attached to the back of the boat, I’d noticed the retaining clip was a bit bent when we launched but figured it would be al-right, goes to show you can never be too careful and I was lucky we weren’t racing!
I’ve always carried spares when I’m sailing, nothing major but it is amazing what you can fix with a few bits and pieces saving you a race and with it a championship. I’m always confident in my boat preparation but no matter how careful you are it's easy to get caught out especially in complex classes with lots of systems.

While the retaining clip is tied to the rudder I always have a spare in my buoyancy aid because if the one on the rudder disappeared then it’s a missing the start scenario. I’ve lost one before and since then I’ve made sure it isn't going to be an issue again. A quick rummage through my buoyancy aid pocket and we had another clip in place and we were off again. This got me thinking, I’ve have had a few things like this in the past few years and always fixed them on the water without losing a race. A couple of years ago at Castle Cove open in the I14 James took a tumble on the jib cleat and snapped it in two, I had to hold the sheet for the next two laps but then between races with a metre of rope we managed to lash it together well enough for the next two races. Another slightly more serious one was finding that in Roger Gilbert’s 14 on POW race day the kicker was trapped under the centre kick bar we had replaced the night before. While I steered Roger removed the bolts with a multi tool on the water and we made the start of the race going on to win it.