Release the foul!

This is the way forward, it has to be - instead of covering the boat with toxic paint every year or couple of years, you cover the bottom of the boat in a two part paint which is so slippery nothing in the foul family can really get its toes in. This technology is called foul release and is widely used in shipping and by the military. The reason isn't because they are particularly concerned about the environmental impact of putting copper based paint into the sea - although they recognise that legislation will be coming and it will be good to be ahead of the game - no, it's because the fuel savings on boats treated in this way are gargantuan! Calypso is the first yacht to be treated with a new product by Hempel called Hempasil X3 - a four part process including two coats of epoxy, a tie coat and then the X3. Hempel take the application process extremely seriously, we had to employ a Hempel expert for 3 days to oversee the application and a dedicated sprayer with special airless spray equipment came to do the coating. Our 20sq metres seemed like an absolute doddle, as his last spray job had been a ship in a dry dock of 7000sqm! The product is guaranteed for 10 years, and although it works on the principal that anything green slides off when you move at around 7 knots, it should work fine on Calypso. It's so slippery that a simple rub with a sponge on a pole every so often will remove anything determined enough to try to grow on her hull. We are really intrigued to see how it works, and we'll also be trialling an Ultrasonic Antifouling system recently installed into the boat which can be switched on and off. I'll keep you posted on the next blog "Sailing Calypso".

Stealth blogging...

Kit blogging again - I'm getting into the swing of this, Jess will have to wrestle back control of the blog! We are having a productive week as the yard is closed down for it's annual one week summer shut down, so Jeremy can get his head down without constant interruptions. He has taken to parking his Land Rover inside the shed and locking the side door so we can work it doesn't look like anyone is home! We have had some worthwhile visitors though - Joe McCarthy Photography or Jungle Jim as he's been known has passed by and taken some 'proper' shots of work in progress which will be posted once I've figured out how to reduce them from their gargantuan size. Today we had another legend: Mikey from Antigua who has agreed to step in and help us with some of the bright work in the last week or so before launching. Mikey is a varnishing guru who has worked on many of the worlds most beautiful yachts including Buttercup of Lymington and both Alice II and III.

We also had confirmation from Darren at Hempel paints that they are going to try out their Foul Release Coating - X3 - which works like a non-stick pan rather than containing poisons. It also has the added bonus that should be faster and lasts for at least 10 years. The tricky part is application so we have to do it under their careful supervision.

Jess will be back soon - the last I heard from her she was on a high ropes course with all four boys (including our 5 year old twins), I'm looking forward to hearing the tales...