odds and ends

There was a meeting of John Welsford Pathfinders yesterday.  Most boat get-togethers are held on the water, this one occurred well inland in North Carolina.  At left is Bobby's LAGNIAPPE, at right is Matt's new-to-him Pathfinder (I don't know the boat's name).  Matt had taken delivery of his boat down south and stopped at Bobby's to compare the two boats.  No doubt it was an interesting and enjoyable visit, and I kind of wish I was there.  Maybe I'll see them both in St. Michaels.

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My Thermarest sleeping pad failed me on the fall sail.  You can see where the inner seams gave way causing the pad to be about three or four times thicker than designed.  Since this is where my head rests it acted as a pillow.  Not a problem, but not right.  

Interestingly my earlier version of the pad also failed, this was on the Maine sail.  The failure was in the chest area so I pad to put floatation pads both above and below the failed seams to even things out.  REI replaced this first pad no questions asked.

After the second failure I contacted the manufacturers.  They were surprised that his happened, particularly twice, and said it might only occur in old, well-used pads.  These were both new.  To make good on the two failures, they are shipping a higher-end version, which sells for about 30% more than the current model.  I thanked them for their good service.

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My JW pennant needs to be replaced.  It is about eight years old.  The original one lasted about the same length of time.  I designed the pennant for SPARTINA, and the first one was a gift from my mother.  The JW stands for both John Welsford and also my parents, Janice and Walter, who helped with the build.  My folks are both gone now and just looking up at their initials while sailing brings back good memories.

 

The maker of the first two pennants seems to be no longer in business.  Several emails received no response.  That woman would sew the flags and images, then sew two flags back to back.  They were not cheap.  The only replacement I can find is a sewn flag with digitally printed images on it.  Still not cheap, it will have to do.