Kingfisher Yacht Cyprus

 There are three ways to replace the standing rigging: Take down the mast Use a cherry picker (€50/hour) Climb the mast when there is no wind I chose number 3, though it was Helen that climbed the mast! I'd already changed one of the shrouds since I had bent the wire taking down the mast when I was moving the boat from Latchi to Larnaca, so there were three more to do. We always have two lines on the bosun's chair, main and safety, just in case there is a problem… for instance a block breaking at the head of the mast! A cotter pin goes in from the outside, with a split pin holding it in place on the inside. Sounds easy? Yep, sort of is… unless you're up the mast doing it when it takes a lot of concentration not to drop the cotter pin which would undoubtedly bounce on the deck into the water! I think I'm more nervous with someone else up the mast than myself! It's not that high, but on a small boat with relatively small keels it moves around quite a lot. Anyhow… all

Bought one new shroud to replace the broken one. I will replace that tomorrow then replace the other two... one was already replaced. Didn't order them all in one go to make sure that the length is correct!   Then got parts for the backstay and started the replacement of that.

  It was quite blowy today... well, gusting a lot. By the time we came in it was 11-14 knots gusting 25-27 knots. When we got into the marina I noticed this: one of the shrouds has broken, so I'll replace them all!

A few weeks back - before the lift out - Liza was given an autohelm by a friend. It was on my list of things to have but was certainly not going to be this year. So as a gift it was brilliant! Today I bought cable and ran it all the way through Liza to put a waterproof socket in the cockpit (in one of the open lockers to protect it slightly) and it looks like it all works. Time for a sea trial soon!