The winds were light in the second week of October 2012 and Peggy’s new mainsail was hoisted at her mooring in South Shields to give it a stretch and to confirm that the size of the mast and yard were correct when they were made from old telegraph poles by Fred Crowell. Fred used to run boat yard on the slipway next to the North East Maritime Trust until he retired and it was handed over to NEMT by to South Tyneside Council in 2008.
I digress, to tighten the luff, the yard had to be hauled up as far as it would go and the downhaul tightened up hard, which left to foot of mainsail about four inches or 10 cm clear of the gunnel. Peggy’s name is partly hidden by the rolled up jib of the yacht, the Port of Tyne number is 479 and the owners are shown as myself and my son, T Dawson, known to all who had anything to the repair of boats in the care of NEMT as Mick and Tim Dawson.
Tim, helping to lift Peggy’s mast out of storage so it could be put in her prior to the launch.