Two Good Lessons and Sail to Failure

Bit of a pattern emerging here. I seem to be sailing Rosa J till for some reason, she won't sail no more.

Had a friend who could sail take me out after I repaired the mast and put the patches on the sail and he gave me two great hints.

1. Always turn into the wind... it makes the turns a lot less dramatic and the boom swings across in a nice, sedate manner.
2. If things start to go wrong, drop the sheet. The boat slows down, there's no need to hike and you get as much time as you need to gather your thoughts.

He also got me to tie a figure-8 knot in the end of the sheet to stop it slipping out the back of the block and after sailing Rosa J by himself told me I had 'a real little boat there' and not to muck about getting over to the other side on the turns.

Anyhoooo, after sailing for about 50 minutes we were running down the length of the lake, really flying along when 'BANG, flap, flap, flap'; the only possible point of failure in the sail that I didn't patch let go. The tie between the sheet and the boom (aka, the clew).

We managed to get to the side, make a bit of a running repair, then headed back home. Not as dramatic as a snapped mast but still pretty messy. Guess that's the final sign to make my poly tarp a spare sail and spend the money on making a good primary sail. Time to get out the sewing machine again.