Well we did it. We managed to get all the halyards strung and this morning we put the sheaves (the pulleys at the top of the mast that the ropes go around) back in and it all seems to work. The main halyard which was very hard to pull last year seems to be working quite nicely although we do not have a sail attached to it yet so I guess it is a BIT early to tell!

We had 4 of the internal halyards in yesterday and we were working on the last one and it would not come through so one final yank and the stupid tracer line broke and we had to start all over and restring the tracer line. It was another 2 hours of work but it was just as well because once we were done the line seemed very free and worked very well. There was some whopping and hollering going on once we had completed the last one let me tell you. Whew, that was a very frustrating, expensive lesson on the quality of line to use for your tracers!!!

I hope this conveys the reason why we chose to have the boatyard guys grind off the old paint, what a horrible job!

Today we headed to the marine store and bought bottom paint. The guys are working on the bottom again and will fill the blisters tomorrow and hopefully we will be able to start painting on Sat. We may actually be able to put the boat in the water on Monday or Tuesday. That will be 2 weeks since we arrived and about what I figured. Maybe I should just say we should be in the water before the end of the next week and then I won't get my hopes up and be disappointed if we don't manage it before then. Yesterday a couple asked us if we wanted to go to the grocery store with them and their car so we hopped in and bought tons of groceries. That was very kind of them.

Getting a haircut Mexican style, on the ground in the boatyard, where anyone can walk by and gawk.