Allan arrived on the train last night, and on a sunny day with light winds we sailed across Falmouth Bay and in the Helford river. The picture shows Bonita anchored off Tremayne quay, deep in the Cornish countryside.
Not all improvements made during the winter turn out successfully, but Bonita's revised mainsail roller reefing gear does seem to make things easier. Any purists reading this will be pleased to know that the screw threads on the ironwork are British Standard Whitworth. Now rarely seen but in common use when Bonita was built, this was the first standardised thread for nuts and bolts, introduced by the Victorian mechanical engineer Joseph Whitworth and in general use for about 100 years. Like so many engineers of his time he introduced a range of inventions including, sadly, an improved rifle for sharpshooters. Very accurate but too expensive for the British army, it was much used by the Confederate army in the American civil war. The Union general whose last words were 'they couldn't hit an elephant at this range' was the victim of a sniper using a Whitworth rifle.
More peacefully, we are spending the night on the Helford and need to return to Falmouth tomorrow.
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