Red Ranger's Yankee and Stays'l date from 1981—the Reagan administration.

We took them to Baxter Sailmakers for a consult.

The news is not good. Mr. Baxter said that he could patch them; but after putting $$$ into the sails they'd only be worth $$$. We'd be patching them annually until they failed catastrophically.

The alternative is to put \(,\)$$ (over 4× the repair estimate) into a new pair of headsails. Custom-built for Red Ranger. Good for another 30 years of sailing.

This is the "stitch in time that saves nine." That just-in-the-nick-of-time stitch doesn't come cheaply. But new sails are a huge confidence-builder.

Suddenly, all the other jobs (Fridge, Stove, Radar Reflectors) are academic.

Sails trump everything else.