Wilkinson Sails sail repair course - excellent

FullCircle

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Just been on a full day sail care and repair course at Wilkinson sails Faversham with 6 other forumites.

I have to report that the day was excellent, and Cindy is hugely knowledgeable and very enthusiastic. Apparently she has been at the sailmaking craft for 35 years......
We learned the differing modes of failure and what causes them, tips on cleaning and restoring and general care.

Then moved on to the various stitches both hand and machine in sail construction and repair, the various cloth weights and the reinforcements.

Use of both Reeds and Sailrite machines and how to get the most out of them

All this was done practical and hands on and we were encouraged to have a go ourselves.

The conversation also ran over all our other issue too like furling gear, reefing etc etc.

Tea and Coffee all day and an excellent hand out at the end.

My thanks to Cindy for this day, and for stocking the Full Circle sail repair locker to a decent level at extremely reasonable prices.

I would recommend anyone to do this, its around half waht you would pary for a days VHF course. Total bargain. its the most I have learned about sailing in a single day for as long as I can remember.

Ever heard 'A stictch in tiime saves nine' ? Well I now know just how true that is........
 

Goldie

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You beat me to it Full Circle (but saved me a lot of typing)! Thanks very much indeed to Cindy, Full Cicle's said it all - a REALLY useful day,not to mention enjoyable. A pleasure to meet some other forumites too!
 

Pye_End

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Hard to add to your full account. Most enjoyable and informative day.

Hope you have a good day today Jim, and that the anchor butter packs keep growing.
 

FullCircle

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Actually, we have dragged the main out from the garage to look at its construction.
Very sad......
I will never buy another sail again without checking certain things.
 

Norman_E

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Cindy is a star. When I needed some new sail batten cars a few years ago, and nobody else could find the right ones, she sourced them for me.
 

wilkinsonsails

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Hi all just wanted to say thanks for your kind comments.
I always enjoy the days meeting you all ,and its very gratifying to know that you feel it's going to be useful.
Let's hope you don't have to use too much valuable sailing time, sewing .!
Cindy
 

reginaldon

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Yes, Cindy cut down and reshaped my genny when I put in Foresail reefing, she was then sailing a small gaffer, good to talk with an interested professional.
 

FullCircle

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I suggest you all PM Cindy under 'WilkinsonSails' to find out when the next course is.
Understandably, she does not want to be seen to be pushing her commercial interests, but as a useful part of the YBW community.

thanks
 

wilkinsonsails

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Hi All
After having a look at our current work load over the next few months,I'm afraid we can only do the sail repair days when we are closed on Saturday.
It's beginning to look pretty busy now and I can't squeeze another Saturday out of the calendar:(.
Also planning to sail my boat back from US in May,:)
So for those interested ,I will be planning to do some more, starting again probably in October.
I will make sure I post dates a bit earlier.
Thanks everyone who came ,we have managed at least another set of Oilies for the RNLI.
Cindy
 
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