Mast up...

Chuffing freezing today (the day of the Coronation), but happily, in slightly warmer, but no less showery, conditions yesterday - we got the mast up..

Not one of our best efforts if I'm honest, but we managed it, and the mast is now up and ready for my halyard swap (job #14)...  😀

So what was different?? Just lack of practice, but mostly the weather was not optimal - not a windy day, but the showers were coming through quick, heavy and sharp which kind of made the whole event a bit rushed and lead to some minor errors.... nothing major but some things to add to the checklist for next time..

• Stays - I leave the lowers (2 per side) off until the mast is up, just relying on the uppers (1 per side) to provide lateral support - I use the forward lower chain plates as the attachment points for the A frame so that kind of drives the decision. On the day we attached the port upper to the port aft lower chain plate in error - which causes the mast to stop as it reaches tension on the stay - no major issue - we laughed (😊), dropped the mast a foot, detached and re-attached it to the right one..  found and accused a scapegoat, job done..
• Backstay - is complicated when the mast is down and sat in the crutch, as I have a Y back stay with short arms from either quarter to a triangular plate which attaches the long one to the to of the mast. Its a lot of wire, and the key is to lead those two short arms under the back board (which we did), but outside of the legs of the crutch (which we didn't)..  so as the mast went up, at some point it started to try and lift the (lashed down) crutch..  no problem - t'other Dave unscrewed the upper part of the back stay from the plate, slipped it over, and reattached ... found and accused a scapegoat, job done..

Everything else was found sorted and fixed before the lift which after the two minor niggles above went smoothly.. 

Two things worked very well and we will repeat next time if we can..

• Commute - I had the use of the club workboat for this mast raise, and although it was required back a little earlier than was optimal it made getting everything (four of us, plus boom, sails, and A frame) out to Sparrow SO much easier.. If I hadn't had it I would have left the boom and sails at home and bought them another day, and even with my new tender, it would have taken two boats to back and forth..
• Loosening off the back stay to the maximum made attaching the forestay a joy.. normally we're fighting to get the clevis pin and washers in, but this time it went straight on..

Had to return the club prior to beers and pork pies as the boat was required, but no worries, we were all a little damp so a picnic in the clubhouse sorted us all out..

* I went back out after the chaps had left and tidied up, sorted out all the stay tensions, checked mast straightness, and generally marvelled at what four old men can still do..  she looks better with the mast up, but she also feels better (less roll).. 

Next job(s)

1. Halyard swaps, then ..
2. Sails/boom on..
3. Sort the engine out...