After a stunning summer and a hectic sailing season our skipper and volunteers have been derigging Pilgrim for winter maintenance over the last couple of days. We’ve been really lucky with the weather.
De-rig involves taking down the working rigging and all the blocks so that everything can be checked, maintained and replaced as needed. We will transfer the rigging to our workshop so our volunteers can get on with the maintenance work whatever the weather.
The wooden spars will be lowered into the water and floated across the harbour in Brixham to the Old Fish Quay. That’s where we do any necessary maintenance and treatment under cover. During the colder winter months we very much appreciate the adjacent coffee shop as well!
Today, we were also delighted to welcome National Historic Ships Director Hannah Cunliffe and their Shipshape Network Coordinator Victoria Wallworth on board. They were visiting the members of the National Historic Fleet in Brixham. Their visit gave us the opportunity to bring them up to speed on Pilgrim’s activities and the issues we are tackling. It was good for us to hear more about the national programmes being delivered for heritage vessels around the UK.
Next week Pilgrim goes ‘on the beach’ to dry out against the harbour wall in Brixham for a ‘below the waterline inspection’ so we can see what maintenance work needs to be scheduled over the winter months.