Running rigging done..

In a brief respite weather'wise before what seems like the the entire next week of rain, a very enjoyable afternoon of ropework (and chat with fellow mooring holders) saw the running rigging completed..

New and old sewn end to end...  then pulled through smoothly..

Tools of the trade..

Main halyard and topping lift in the bag..  jib halyard on the floor being done..

I'd thought that the old halyards were in "OK" condition apart from dirt, and a coating of green algae but as it turned out they were more damaged than I thought..  this is the old topping lift (following)..  

..the rope has become brittle with UV and has what can only be described as "snapped" in a couple of places...  when I took this one home and gave it a run in the washing machine, the inner core came out entirely..   shame as it was in the middle so I ended up with two much smaller lengths..

...and this following - was the main halyard after I had recovered it..   it had worn at the eye end so I guess this is 10 or so years of wear at the block/sheave at the top of the mast when under sail..  cut it out and re-whipped..

Job done!

...and seeing as I had a topping lift and main halyard now,  it seemed foolish not to reinstall the boom and main sail - all done and dusted, but not quite enough time to do the genoa (and besides a bit of a breeze had kicked in which would have made it awkward)..