Crew Blog

Sail repairers extraordinaire

04 January 2008

Liverpool 08's Eleni and Tiina on their 24-hour sail repair

It was the morning after we set off from Freo – I woke up to find Tiina on the floor of the Ghetto with a torn spinny on her lap. The tear was caused by the spinny rubbing against the forestay a few too many times whilst up, and when the kite collapsed and refilled the force of the wind tore it from the foot right up to the head.

As the apparent wind was behind us at an average of 15 knots - the mid weight spinnaker was the most appropriate sail for those conditions and at that time we had all the boats behind us bar Hull & Humber.

So it was up to Tiina and myself to get it repaired ASAP! First we had the job of patching up the tear with Dacron on both sides (which was about 77 feet long) and then setting up the machine in the saloon ready to do four rows of zigzag stitching along the edges of the Dacron – ugh!

Luckily Tiina and I are on separate watches and we´re on Mother watch together, so Skipper Ben suggested we just crack on with the mending till done and not worry about being up on deck. Well, we mended through the night, had a quick two-hour power nap, then back to mending for the whole day. It was very hot and not very comfortable down below, especially with this massive piece of fabric wrapped up around us whilst sewing.

We also found out that we had fallen behind to eighth place – ouch!

So all that kept on going through our minds was that we have to get this done so no moaning about conditions and we just soldiered on.

Finally, with Paul’s assistance to the foot line, we completed the repairs in just under 24 hours and the kite was up by 9am yesterday morning.

Tiina and I felt very proud of our hard work, to see the repair holding and the realization of how big a tear it was, such a wonderful feeling it all worked and it’s back up flying again.

Just checked the scheds and we’re back in second place – YEEHAH!

Sending all my love and kisses to mum, dad, brother John, sister-in-law Yiota and all my friends who are following the race.

Eleni Isaias

1. Aimo Mustonen, Joensuu 04 January 2008

Great job ladies.You sure have good chances to make a career as sail makers.This leg will certainly be much better than the previous one.Take your place on podmium and I�ll take care that the whole crew will receive at least one round of tasty cold drinks in Singapore.See you there !
Ami

2. Camilla Whitney, Australia 05 January 2008

Well done girls fantastic job on fixing the spinnaker!! Keep it up you’re all doing a great job, missing you lots and will see you in Singapore!! PS look out for the messages I left you on the food tins!! Lots of love mills x x

3. Meri Hummel, Joensuu, Finland 05 January 2008

Good job repairing the spinny, Tiina and Eleni! Great to see that you are currently doing so well, first place!
Tiina, we got the gifts a few days ago, thanks a lot! I really like the bracelet and the outfit is fine for Toby for next summer. Take care!
Good luck to the whole crew, hold on to that number one spot!

Meri, Jeremy and Toby

4. blake,charz,sooze, cowes 05 January 2008

WAHOOOOO keep going guys we with you all the way .love u uncle ben xxxcharly and blake xx

5. Helen Richmond, Southampton 05 January 2008

Hey guys, awesome job on the spinny and woo hoo hoo on your position this race - go Liverpool! Still addicted to the race viewer and following your progress always. Thinking of you all and miss you lots. Keep going, love to all, Helen.xxx

6. Nuala, Fremantle 05 January 2008

Great work you guys what an effort...is that paying off or what!!! Its hard to imagin how you fix something so huge. had no idea till I saw the pics .. love to you all and especially to Paul xxx

7. Riikka Loukkaanhuhta, Nummi-Pusula, FINLAND 05 January 2008

I always knew that you had that “Little midinette"-personality inside you, Tiina… Great job, Eleni and Tinttura! Hope you get to work up on the deck too, so the great looking tan won’t fade away - after all, it’s the look that counts...

Take care and enjoy!
Huge hugs from Riikka

8. Maila Mustonen, 05 January 2008

Hi Tiina and all of you!
I�m so proud of you Tiina. What a good sewer you are!!! And a first place at the race! Keep on going and enjoy. You are in my mind every day!
Love, Mum

9. Alex, Sorrento Beach, WA 06 January 2008

Dear All, Keep up the good work, I am missing you all & also missing boat life. So until next time my friends I shall remain here eating crayfish, drinking Crownies & occasionally cooling off in the ocean. Keep safe & hope too see you all soon. Thanks for the memories xx A -out

10. John, Eleni Isaias' brother, Sydney, Australia 06 January 2008

Hey sis,

great job, it’s good to see you guys are in first spot after all those troubles.

imagine if everything was in working order how far ahead you would be?

i’m glad you’re enjoying it, it was a real shame that we couldn’t meet up in WA.

anyways i shall be meeting with you again in the UK in summer. we’re organising our travel arrangements from now.

love john & yiota xxx

11. Andy Perry, Liverpool 06 January 2008

Magnificent piece of sail repair work in record time that’s bearing such fruits keeping you at the head of the pack. Don’t know what sort or adjustment you managed to make to the shape of the 1.5 kite but it looks like you are getting a knot more out of it on the same bearing and wind conditions as New York and some of the others to boot! I can feel the sweat and the sore fingers of handling so much material and running it through that machine. See you in Singers.... Andy

12. Irmeli Loukkaanhuhta, Kesalahti, Finland 06 January 2008

Hey Tiina and whole crew of the magnificent Liverpool! You�re now on your own place!
All the best to you all from your fans in Kesalahti - keep going!! And Tiina, see you in July on the shore of
“ The eastern ocean called Pyhajarvi” - we�re waiting!!! xxx Imppu&Vesku;

13. Nuala, Freo 06 January 2008

Great going Liverpool ...no idea what a spinnaker actually was till I saw the pics wow is that one big piece of sail to fix ...well done Tina and Eleni and I also heard that Pual did a great job on the computer good on you too Paul..great to spend time with you all in Freo its just not the same with out you XXX Nuala

14. B pope, Perth Airport (normally Liverpool) 06 January 2008

Get in L08,

Nice one on the repairs and keep up the great sailing! Would be fantastic for you all to have a podium in Singapore..

Am sat in Perth Airport writing this with a six hour wait for the flight out of here - sure you’re having an much more interesting time, thinking of you all jealously especailly you Dad

Ben Pope (plus Jill, Sam & charlotte)

15. Peter Nuttall, Cumbria 06 January 2008

very impressed by the picture of the repair and extremely pleased with your attempts to get me on the podium at the end. After my complaints on leg one you’ll be interested to know that Father Christmas gave me an iPod. And to my absolute undelight - it was preloaded with the red hot chilli peppers - go ‘ed !!
Still addicted twice a day to the scheds - keep winning and keep safe.

Peter

16. Stephanie Blake, Liverpool 06 January 2008

Good luck,hope you win. Happy New year!From Stephanie.B.

17. Roy Stevens, Lytham St Annes 06 January 2008

GO Liverpool. You’re doing great. I wish I could send you some ice creams to cool you all down.
Best wishes
Roy

18. Andy, Linda and Lola, Perth, Western Australia 07 January 2008

My darling Eleni
Great to see your blog babe, hope all is well, so glad we caught up in Perth. Fantastic that you are in first place. Hope the Spinny’s holding up? Love to Tiina, Lisa, Ben and Russ too.

Lynden and Bill send their love and lots of love from us, take care honey.

GO LIVERPOOL 08!!!
Andy, Linda and Lola xxx

19. Ian Forshew, Melbourne 07 January 2008

Well done Liverpool. Thanks for a fun Christmas Anna. Great to see you guys in the front. Hope the next Christmas (isls) is kind to you and you keep others ‘breathing down your neck’!
Anna’s dad
xx

20. Helen Jones, Cardiff 08 January 2008

Hey Tiina

Happy Christmas, Happy New Year and thank you so much for the clothes that you sent Sophia, it’s so nice to have some clothes that are not bright pink!!

Good to see that you are back in pole position after your mammoth sail mending. I always knew you secretly wanted to be a seamstress!

We are all well, just really tired as Sophia doesn’t sleep for more than 2 hours at a time she just wants attention and food 24/7. She’s going to be a little madam when she’s older.

Thinking of you and team Liverpool.

Lots of love piblokto

Helen, Chris & Sophia
xxx

21. Ed Blunt, Zummerset 09 January 2008

Good sewing girls.

Since you’re so good at repairing really vast pieces of material, Dr Dave (a.k.a. Chunda) might need your services if he rips the seat of his trousers.

22. Sue Haslam, Chester 11 January 2008

Well done Eleni & Tina! What a job! Obviously a brilliant repair as you are leading all the way - keep going to the podium .... Love to you all Sue x

23. Colin pope, Southport merseyside 11 January 2008

Great going Liverpool Keep it up Make richie work harder!!

Colin (his twin)

24. Choker, Zummerzet 12 January 2008

Hey guys, still second with time on your side. For extra sail, recommend swapping recently repaired sail with Dr Dave Chunda’s pants...just think of the extra yardage of material you’ll get and the built in wind machine!!!

Hey Dave; just to thank you for the Christmas drink money...not that we’ve had one as Bernard didn’t bring it yet!! and your volleyball subs to date mean you owe us �120.(oh and if you don’t pay for the golf trip soon I’ll give your place to Gibber..)

Try and sign off with a win.....best of luck for the last leg of this race

25. Deb Findlay, London 18 January 2008

Hellooooo My Darling Skatolaki,

Wow - check you out with all your sailing “speak”! I haven’t got a scooby what half of it means, but one things for sure, you and the guys seem to be doing a great job. I can’t even sew the buttons onto my TopShop jacket, let alone fix a tear on a humongous sail - go girls! I am ultra impressed!

I miss you sooooooooooo much Eleni - your adventure sounds amazing. Let’s try and speak soon - I know it’s really hard to find time etc - but as long as you know, I’m thinking about you all the time and send you all my love and a big fat kiss x x x x x

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