It's a New Year!
We have two new fully-qualified Skippers who completed their Blue Books and are now proudly wearing their aiguillettes. These were awarded by LCDR Craig Tyson at his retirement ceremony... that's right we also have a new Commanding Officer.
The coaches have been keeping busy on the boats. This pic is not a capsize drill, it's cleaning & inspecting the hull. Fortunately winter has been mild and Head Coach Rezab has been able to remove a rusty centerboard which needs attention.
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How do you remove a rusty centerboard? Very carefully! Let's just say that it is more work than we expect from the cadets... at this time...
Coach Rezab had the capable help of Coach O'Flanagan putting the boat on a crane and accessing the pivot bolt to remove the centerboard. Javelin 'boards are ballasted which increases the stability (link), but like most sea creatures they are heavy and awkward on land.
How rusty was it?
Extremely!
Here is a close-up view of the centerboard after -some- of the rust had been laboriously removed.
A better and complete job was done by sandblasting
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Because humidity in the air causes rust to begin forming instantly, it was important to paint on a protective coat of primer ASAP... in this case, with about 20 minutes.
Next, the centerboard will get smoothed-over with a thick layer of epoxy. Hopefully the coaches will be able to give it a bit more of a FOIL shape instead of a pitted flat plate.
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