mainsailthe principal sail on a shipThe correct sheeting of the mainsail is when the top telltale lifts slightly before the others. We had learnt that breaking out of the Azores High had meant ETAs were difficult to estimate within several days let alone answer questions such as “…and exactly what time on Saturday shall I bring our five children down to Plymouth from Yorkshire to meet their father after his 10 months away?” In March 2001 the fleet suffered a bad storm after leaving Tokyo Bay and several boats carried away the headboards on their mainsails as well suffering other problems and so they all were brought back to Yokohama. With mainsail and jib we ran out from the land and passed safely over the bar.