Aloft

Our first major project here on Malabar is to replace and renew the standing rigging. For my land lubbers reading, the mast attaches to the keel, then rises thru the interior of the boat, thru the roof of the boat and into the air. At two different heights there are horizontal bars called spreaders, which spread the wires away from the mast. There are also thick wire cables that run from the top, middle and lower portion of the mast called shrouds. There is also one that goes from the top of the mast to the front of the boat and the top of the mast to the back. These are here to lend support to the mast when out sailing.

Our shrouds are original 1979 pieces of wire, so for the sake of safety we are replacing the lot of them. And for 'fun', we're doing it ourselves. This process has to be done in stages, so we began by removing the four lowest shrouds. Keegan loosened the connections at the bottom of the boat and then it was time to head up. With harness on, I was attached to the main sail's halyard (rope that pulls up the main sail) and Keegan winched my butt up that mast.

Keegs works on the shrouds

What we found was not what we expected, but after a bit of discussion, and yelling, we came up with a Plan B. Happy to report that the shrouds are at the riggers as we speak and the process will continue this weekend! Yay! A big thanks to Matt for his excellent photography!