Up the mast (without a halyard)
One thing that is not permitted at the Artemis Boatyard at Leros is to go up the mast on a halyard. I guess this policy is more aimed at mono-hulls who could easily topple over sideways off their frames with extra weight and movement up top. Not such a concern for a cat, however this blanket rule avoids any liability issues and arguments.
We had quite a list of jobs which means lining up a cherry picker and sending the engineer up, as we cant do it ourselves. Finally there is a Meltemi-less window on Monday and the fun begins.
1. Firstly we had him put in a new tri-light to replace the existing anchor light. We chose this product from Marine Beam which gives us navigation lights at the top of the mast, as well as a new and much brighter anchor light. The anchor light is photo-sensetive as well which is a bonus. It only switches on when the sun goes down. Masthead navigation lights will be visible from much further, and wont be covered by the gennaker like the existing ones which are mounted on the seagull striker. We can retrofit it to the existing wiring, making it a really easy change over.
2. Next is a new masthead halyard. This gives us the option to more readily change between gennaker and kite without dropping the gennaker. It also gives us another halyard to go up the mast on, rather than the main or the topping lift. We use 10mm Dynalite but in retrospect a heavier line would have been better. We have chafed through the Dynalite's outer sheath at the mast jammer.
3. Then the fitting of a folding mast step at the top which will give Keith something step onto when he is up there in the bosuns chair. Much easier to see what is going on right at the top. In hindsight, 2 steps, one on each side would have been even better!
4. Next our main halyard, which was moused, is so twisted that we can’t pull it down. This also happened in Hammamet. We will be replacing this with 10mm Dynalite which is less subject to twisting and should run more smoothly. So we really need to retrieve the old one and use it to mouse in the new halyard.
Finally the main track gets a hose out to try to remove 20 months’ worth of Grecian dust (or “earth leakage” as I heard one sailor call it!) George (the engineer) took lots of photos for us which was great!
One thing that is not permitted at the Artemis Boatyard at Leros is to go up the mast on a halyard. I guess this policy is more aimed at mono-hulls who could easily topple over sideways off their frames with extra weight and movement up top. Not such a concern for a cat, however this blanket rule avoids any liability issues and arguments.
We had quite a list of jobs which means lining up a cherry picker and sending the engineer up, as we cant do it ourselves. Finally there is a Meltemi-less window on Monday and the fun begins.
1. Firstly we had him put in a new tri-light to replace the existing anchor light. We chose this product from Marine Beam which gives us navigation lights at the top of the mast, as well as a new and much brighter anchor light. The anchor light is photo-sensetive as well which is a bonus. It only switches on when the sun goes down. Masthead navigation lights will be visible from much further, and wont be covered by the gennaker like the existing ones which are mounted on the seagull striker. We can retrofit it to the existing wiring, making it a really easy change over.
2. Next is a new masthead halyard. This gives us the option to more readily change between gennaker and kite without dropping the gennaker. It also gives us another halyard to go up the mast on, rather than the main or the topping lift. We use 10mm Dynalite but in retrospect a heavier line would have been better. We have chafed through the Dynalite's outer sheath at the mast jammer.
3. Then the fitting of a folding mast step at the top which will give Keith something step onto when he is up there in the bosuns chair. Much easier to see what is going on right at the top. In hindsight, 2 steps, one on each side would have been even better!
4. Next our main halyard, which was moused, is so twisted that we can’t pull it down. This also happened in Hammamet. We will be replacing this with 10mm Dynalite which is less subject to twisting and should run more smoothly. So we really need to retrieve the old one and use it to mouse in the new halyard.
Finally the main track gets a hose out to try to remove 20 months’ worth of Grecian dust (or “earth leakage” as I heard one sailor call it!) George (the engineer) took lots of photos for us which was great!
