Marina sailing.

Went down to the harbour last week to try the borrowed spinnaker for size. But let me warn you, I had no intention of going sailing. Nope, I was gonna hoist the spinnaker in the harbour with the boat firmly secured to its marina berth.

Nothing wrong with that,......................provided that the wind is very gentle, or almost non-existing.

But, on Saturday the wind is up. I'll try it anyway. The boat is moored in a position that puts it on a broad reach. Not bad. Hope we don'y take off with the marina in tow.

So I get various bits of rope out and secured to temporarily rig up the spinny. I hoist the spinny.

It's 75% up. The breeza fills it and the sheet takes off. I stop hoisting and make a grab for the sheet. I secure the sheet and hoist the sail right up. Trimm the sail.

Moer, it's big. I jump ashore to have a look from the side. I spot a tiny little hole in the spinny. I reckon I better get a picture of this lot. I make a dash for the boat and the nav table. I grab the camera and at the same time I hear a "pop" sound as the halliard snapshackle explodes. The spinny floats gently down and covers most of the harbour. As in "harbour water".

I pull the wet kite out. I notice the angling club balcony is packed. I notice they are mostly looking at me.

The snapshackles which came with the rig has turned out to be junk. This was the first time the spinny halliard had any load on it and it went. The jib halliard's also popped the first time it got used.

Anyway, I go and fetch Jamie and bring him to the boat. He loves going up the mast. So up he goes and gets the halliard down for me.

Handy, these little 13 year olds.

Picture is of me and Jamie's pal, Jason.