Have a look at photos of the mast work @
http://sailinglasata.blogspot.com It's
been two weeks, and we're still here. Not that I'm complaining; but seriously
I'd have loved to made it to Miami by now. With the Miami Boat Show starting
this coming Friday, it would have been nice to be within walking or scooter
distance to the show. As it stands, we'll be there Friday and maybe Saturday.
God knows I have a one or two more things to get before my systems are 100% on
the boat.
That said, we are becoming very familiar with the area and Stacie may be
getting a little too comfortable being here. It is a nice city for the most
part, and the weather? What Can I say, it's been great! We've even had the
opportunity to benefit culturally too, seeing
Wicked and
Cirque du Soleil - Totem.
Okay so now to answer the question... "So, what's taking you so
long?" Well, a couple things. First, it took us nearly a week to have the
mast pulled. Not that the actual work of it took that long, it was basically
the logistics of getting the crane and riggers scheduled. It is a strange
sight, watching my mast being lifted from the boat... Even stranger the boat
being mast-less. I'm not sure if it was just my self-conscious nature, but it
felt like everyone was staring at us as we motored back to the slip.
Here are a few pictures of the Mast work I'm doing. Basically the plan was
to get down the ICW, going offshore a couple times, only when we had good
weather (subjective) and during the day. Once we were in warm weather, we'd go
ahead and have the Standing Rigging replaced and do some mast maintenance.
After all It has been at least 12 years! And I've noticed the same European
wiring in the mast... So, it is about time.
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| First; remove the boom and clear the running rigging |
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| And there goes the Mast |
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| Keeping Track of the wire? |
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| As seen from the top. Note; Main halyard too fat! |
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| Port & Stbd Shrouds |
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| Where the Spinaker Halyards will be... Oh yeah, new Anchor light, VHF Antenna, & wire |
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| Starbord Side of the Mast |
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| Notice the Faded Spreader |
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| New Spreader caps |
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| Spreaders with Fresh Black Anodizing |
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Wrong size spreader boot!
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Now all we need is to get the Standing Rigging done and installed, re-install the RADAR, run a new Main halyard (Pulling two new Spinaker chaser lines), replace the old Anchor light and Steaming light. The next update we'll be celebrating a new rig!
