Forty Days to Go

I am currently learning to repair sails at North Sails. Being out there alone, should a sail tear or become shredded, I will have to do the repair myself. Today's materials are not cotton or Dacron, and do not lend themselves to simple stitching. Special tapes and glues are required, and my spare parts kit will have $2,000 worth of sail repair material to take care of my 3Di sails. In life, most of what we learn we hope to use. But now it seems that I am learning and buying materials that I hope to never use! Everything from the sail repair material to two life rafts (one on deck but the other inside by my rear escape hatch should I lose my keel and go upside down) spare pumps, wind sensors, etc.

I have been working with Mike Toppa, owner/president of North Sails, located in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We met over a decade ago in New Zealand during the Americas Cup defense by New Zealand, when his wife Libby, a fellow physical therapist, said we had to meet. These 3Di sails are extremely strong and fast, and recently they had an advertisement that read "what do you do with a set of 3Di sails once you have sailed around the world - you sail around again." I'll be happy for just one circumnavigation, non-stop and non-assisted.