What do you do if you’re sailing and your mast breaks? In the 2013 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, in which small sailing vessels travel from Gran Canaria to the Carribbean, that happened to one of the participating boats. Pollux, from France, with her 2-man crew was only 140 miles from her final destination of St. Lucia, when she was dismasted in a heavy squall. The crew did not panic. Applying the concept of ‘jury-rigging’ – a term used to describe the actions of makeshift running repairs made with only the tools and materials on board – they rigged a windsurfing sail as a temporary replacement on their remaining “half mast”. It helped that the final stretch was downwind and, in the end, they lost remarkably little time because of the mishap. A few adaptations and they still achieved the desired result – getting “home”. But without the enforced adaptations they would not have made it to their destination. In valuing personal injury claims in Scotland, it can sometimes Continue Reading