Cruising friends we met in the Ragged Islands a couple of years ago had offered up their old sail battens (stiffening rods) because they have replaced their sails. They are hauled out north of Norfolk, VA and will be departing in a few weeks southbound for their circumnavigation!!
Here's Judy - taking a short break from their boat chores. According to Judy, they have a long list and it all needs to be done before they head out, of course! Todd greeted us for a few minutes but was back inside the boat quickly as a project beckoned....
Duane made short work of tying the 20' long battens to the pickup for the 4 hour drive back to Oriental.
Interesting to drive thru the heavy industrial area crossing the James River. Piles and piles of coal.
And lots of ship work going on.
And always a bit thrilling to go thru the tunnel "under the water". Otherwise an uneventful drive thru the Virginia/NC country.
Thought I'd explain the the end a little bit about the battens. We drove all that way to get the "free" battens because it would be horribly expensive to pay for shipping since it would basically require a tractor/trailer for delivery due to the 20' length.
I'll use them when I re-design and recreate our main sail bag. The red line will be where I will sew the battens in a pocket on either side of the sailbag. This will give the bag a stiff shape and will hold the bag open - when we drop the sail it will just fall neatly into the bag. (This is not an earth-shattering new invention by me - lots of folks have this design).
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