There is something wrong with this picture!!!

We have made some progress on rectifying the mess we left ourselves with. Barry was hauled up the mast on Friday and the structure they had was not tall enough to get him up to the top. He did reach one line that was coming out the top, but it was not connected to anything at the bottom. We did the only other thing we could do and took the mast down. It came down without a hitch yesterday, and we have been slaving and swearing away trying to get lines but in it.

The structure to enable you to work on your mast was not QUITE tall enough.

In order to get a line strung you have to put a long steel wire up or down the mast, from one end to the other and then get it to come out the top, or out of the teeny tiny holes that the halyards go through. We are still talking to one another and Hallelujah we got all 5 internal tracer lines in place today. NOW we have to attach the halyards, which are the ropes that haul the sails up and down the mast, to the tracer lines and get them to feed through the mast. We are crossing our fingers that we should be able to manage this feat.

Today the boat was moved in the grubby work area and they are sanding the hull and getting it ready for us to paint. They are also repairing the blisters that we popped last spring, they are holes that go through the gelcoat, most are about 1/2 inch in diameter, some an inch. The guy in the yard wanted us to strip the whole boat and have it all redone but that could take up to 3 to 4 months so we declined. Hopefully we won't be sorry.

We did manage to get some recreation time in, we attended a going away party for the girl that looked after out boat all summer, it was a pirate party so plenty of arrrhhhh's were heard. A sword fight broke out at one point over the booty so it was fun. Our buddies Pat and Carole had us over for dinner and dice the other night so although it seems like we are slaving away we are managing to have fun. More friends are showing up everyday and soon our buddy boat people from last year will be here (Sandi and Steve) so it will be wonderful to see them again.