The Hatch

Meeting deadlines

26 March 2008

The mast sections are now ready to fly to Los Angeles as planned, as are some of the rigging replacements. The replacement fittings for the eight boats are still due to leave direct from Germany on the 28 March. Some other items that have been requested will be included in this shipment. Both Spencer Rigging and Atlantic Spars worked over the Easter weekend to achieve the schedule, and even dealt with the problem of the wrong extrusion for the mast spreaders being delivered on Friday by getting the right section delivered on Saturday! It’s been good to have this support from the industry.

However, not everyone has been so accommodating. Last night there was some doubt over when the mast sections would leave Los Angeles when the air freight company surprised us by saying they could not take the mast sections in their aircraft, having said they could a week ago!  At worst it could have been a five-day trip by sea but we managed to find an alternative aircraft and have managed to resolve it.

Once all this equipment has arrived it will be up to the team in Hawaii to get the replacement rigging in place and we’ll get the race re-started as soon as we can thereafter.

RKJ