Update on Kiwi Spirit

Two issues have been brought to my attention that I would like to respond to. The first is why I took so long to publish the pictures of the sails and to comment on them, and the second is the visual state of the boat. When I arrived in Cape Town it was on New Year’s Eve and typical of the nations in the southern hemisphere, principally New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, since it is their summer they combine the festive season with a long vacation – most businesses are shut down. So the principals of the loft at North Sails in Cape Town were not immediately available and did not open until Monday, the 5th to get their first look at the sail and get that information to North Sails in the United States. It was on Wednesday the 7th that North Sails communicated with me. Their communication was timely and frank in that they said they still did not understand what happened. It was a unique occurrence. For me to have posted pictures and speculated on what was the cause of the total separation of the sail would have been speculative and unfair. The sail has now been repaired and a crew of three leave this Friday to begin the delivery back to St. Augustine. The second item concerns a posted comment on a Blog that said “Went down to the waterfront in Cape Town to have a look at Kiwi Spirit. Absolutely amazed at the state of the boat. Deck and cockpit in a complete state of chaos. Nobody about. Literally looks abandoned. Very sad to see such an amazing boat in this condition. Sheets, winch handles and running rigging just left lying everywhere.” If you read this then let it be known that it is totally incorrect. Before leaving the boat in the capable hands of Mike Giles, a professional sailor and well recognized manager of boats such as mine, and has been very helpful now on two occasions, we removed winch handles etc. and tidied up generally. What the person making the comment should be aware of is that Mike and his helpers needed to repair a hole in the deck from where a turning block was pulled out and also needed to raise the rudder as well as complete many other minor jobs to ready the boat. Winch handles and other gear are just not left lying around in a country of have and have not’s as such items have a habit of disappearing. So the boat was being worked on and boats being worked on are messy at times. Soon I shall review many of the comments to my blogs and others on Facebook and pick from the many hundreds to make a Blog of some of the ones that appeal most to me.