Scott wrote:

I would like to learn to vacuum bag and use release fabric (peel ply?) for a better finish, but there is only so much time in the day. I would also like to repaint the whole deck after seeing how much better it looks with a new finish.

Vacuum bagging is really for laminating up fiberglass components and not really applicable for the repairs you are talking about. Peel Ply is very easy to use and suitable for a good finish on any fiberglass work. When you have applied your last layer of fiberglass you then put the layer of peel ply over the top and work it into the resin using the brush you have been using, or best a roller. When constructing fiberglass components I use a proper serrated laminating roller. When the resin cures gently pull off the peel ply and you end up with a nice smooth almost paint ready finish. The surface will just need a light sand before painting. 

The sailing season is over for me. I hauled the boat this past Sunday and I wrote out a page-long TODO list for the fall and winter.

The week before, on October 1st, I clamped my camera on to a dock. I then attempted to sail up and into a video. I should have pointed the camera in a different direction. The wind is light and constantly shifting direction in by the mooring.

https://youtu.be/iyq3SjjkoXY

Eric wrote:Bonjour

It is the TPS ! The link was a video showing Escoffier jumping in the sea in the deep south in a TPS to be transfered to a navy ship. Temperature should be around 0°C !! Escoffier spent a night in a life raft before being recovered by an other Vendée Globe competitor. He didn't suffer hypothermie.

The TPS is mandatory for the Mini Transat. Not many offshore boats are unsinkable. To wear a TPS in a life raft would make it much more confortable : it keeps dry and warm : luccury in such environnement. I would have one per crew offshore. (I have mine and an other ar home).

I didn't had to use it formally. I was so tired that I had an hallucination and decided that my keel was moving, in the middle of no-where. So I went for a survival exercise and wore the TPS all night, just in case. At day light I went for a swim in my TPS to check my keel. It was of course sound !
Eric

Bonjour Eric,

Is there anywhere that I can actually buy the TPS right now? It is cold here now and the marine forecast used the word 'gale' for this week. I am starting to wonder if my wetsuit is really any good if I don't wear it all the time.

This was the only thing I can find about the TPS:

Len wrote:Sometimes the experience is worth more than the picture. Or to put it another way, the picture depends on the viewer having had the experience to make it really come alive. After that, the picture quality is less important.

Hi Len, thank you for the response.

I make these videos and photos for myself more than anyone. At the time they never seem to capture how it feels to be sailing. But, when I look at them again in January, somehow they bring back all the joy of sailing.

I would still like one clear image of my sail filled with wind for the 'boat photo' part of my profile. I might try to rig something with a selfie stick lashed on to an oar for extra length.

I sail almost exclusively single handed. The junk rig makes this a lot more fun. But being out alone makes it difficult to get a good photo of the boat making way under sail.

I would like to have a nice close photo for my profile. This blurry one from yesterday is the best I have.

It was a really nice day for sailing. I went about 4 miles out. I came back so I could work today. I would have preferred to stay out sailing overnight.

I took a video with my new (cheap) camera. It doesn't show anything new. I am sailing, the sheets are not quite right, and I need to clean the boat.

https://youtu.be/oFahxiAaqWI