FID-O/McGREW SPLICING TOOL CO.
8120 RIO LINDA BLVD.
ELVERTA, CA. 95626-9533 U.S.A.
PH: (916) 991-1142 FAX (916) 991-2761

January 31, 2000

Neil Sirman
17000 Viking Way NW
Poulsbo, WA 98370-8318

Dear Neil

I wish to acknowledge your prompt payment, and that I did find your web page and enjoyed following your refit. You inadvertently posted my fax number (916) 991-2761 instead of my phone number (916) 991-1142, and it just may confuse a few of your friends.

My newly acquired e-mail address is jdmcgrew@CWO.com and some day I'll have a web page to show my "stuff"' as well. For the present I'm beholden to friends like you to keep me in business by word of mouth.

I've made a good many 'commercial trade shows' on 3 coasts since '72, and debated the merits of keeping both the wire and splice off the face of the winch many times. I have found those who most often advocate 'wire on the drum' also sail close to shore, have a ready source of re-supply, are often sponsored, and totally ignore the damage the hard wire does to the soft winch face; OR, the damage a rough winch face does to a fiber halyard that is surged for any reason.

For your own peace of mind I suggest you subject a practice splice to a stress break test before you "sail off into the sunset". Be sure to anchor the end of the test wire with the same type of eye (crimped, spliced. etc.) that will be used on the halyard. . The weak spot may surprise you and if you take a reef, everything changes.

You mentioned a Navy connection, so you might like to know a little of mine. I enlisted in 1937 when the Navy still had oar powered whale boats that carried a set of sails. In 1939 while in China I was a member of the U.S.S. Augusta's Asiatic Fleet Sailing Championship crew. Early in my navy career I held both a Coxswain's and Sailmaker's 3rd training certificate, but ended up as a Warrant Carpenter in a Lion 9 Mobile Repair Unit in an Amphibious Assault Force poised to hit the Japanese homeland when the war ended.

I spent some time during the early days of the war at the Tiburon Naval Net Depot maintaining the fleet of boats that patrolled the submarine net under the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. It was the experience gained on that assignment that helped me jump from CMIC to Warrant Carpenter by the time I was 25 without ever holding a Chief's rating.

Try to remember abrasion at sea is always your enemy, placing a strand so it creates friction between yarns while reducing abrasive tendencies is a 'splicing skill' worth cultivating.

Splicingly Yours,

James D. McGrew