Frustration

Finally we’re getting ready to leave. We meet friends and families for lunch or dinner, give and receive gifts and we work a lot on the ship to finalize the last remaining items on the ToDo list. Finally on the move, finally back in to the english-speaking world !

It takes me three days to install our new mast steps. A exhausting and dangerous work. But a cruising boat needs mast steps: Sailors are lazy people and when there are no steps one rarely wants to climb the mast and so never gets to check the rigging. No steps = higher risk so to say. As soon as I put the last two steps on the mast, I start looking at all the blocks, terminals, shackles and immediately I find a major defekt: The forestay has two strands broken right at the upper terminal ! So we got to get the sail and roller furler down and inspect the whole thing, probably replace it.  That means time, money, work. And that we’ll not be able to get going in the next days. Ouch !!