Yes! We finally got our hands on our brand new mast and its standing rigging. And we launched straight into action.
The packaging was gently prised apart and all the items laid out on our worktable, with the two parts of the mast placed on thermocol ‘pillows’ atop four drums. It’s 17 metres long and could not be shipped in one piece. Then the packinglist list was duly checked and all items accounted for. Phew, crossed that first goal post.
We placed the shrouds and stays alongside the mast in rough alignment with their actual positions. The main halyard, the topping lift, the Genoa halyard and the back stays were attached at the top end and the rest were tied to the mast, to retain their positions. To make this job easier the mast maker has placed mousing lines for all the halyards and marked their entry and exit points. The wires for the wind transducer and the lights were inserted through the top end of the mast, into a separate pre-installed conduit inside the mast and fed through all the way to the bottom, also with the help of mousing lines.
Halfway through the day, we walked over to Antara to update her on the developments as well as to install the new mast step. That is the base, on Antara’s deck, on which we will place the mast.
The stays are the key element keeping the mast standing. Since we still have to measure and assemble them, we will use the halyards instead. This means we need to have the winches and stoppers in place to hold them. By now, I’m sure you’ve figured that stays help a mast STAY in place.
The most interesting job so far has to be installing the winches. Here’s a pictorial representation of what we did.
3. Mark the exact position with a centre punch and then drill
On Monday, we will complete tapping all the holes for the winches and stoppers. Then install all the winches and stoppers. Most of the side stays will be the last to be put together after the spreaders are in place.
That’s when we will be ready to do the first dummy run with the mast on Tuesday. The fore stay, the back stays and the new inner fore stay lengths will need to be measured accurately. We will use those measurements to cut the stay ropes and then attach the Sta-Loc fittings at the top end and turnbuckles at the bottom. The side stays extending from the lower spreaders to the deck will also be measured and turnbuckles fitted at the bottom end.
By the end of next week, we hope to do another test run with the mast, before we are ready to finally install the mast on Antara’s deck.
Looking forward to seeing you folks aboard this season. Reach out on sailonantara@gmail.com to schedule your sail. Do share this with friends and family and help us grow the tribe of sailors.
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