A little play on the nursery rhyme... November Six, Up on sticks. I already hate the yard. I have no idea how people can live on the hard in a boatyard for long-term basis.
Today was one of those backwards days...
The headstay had to come off so we could haul out. We loosened the shrouds on the main mast, loosened the running backstays, relieved every bit of tension possible, took the roller furling drum off, still the pin in the roller furling drum would not release. We worked on this for hours...hours I tell you. The time came to put HP on the straps.
Well pulling anchor was a nasty, nasty job. Poor Heather. The deck wash exploded...the fittings came apart due to a stress crack and she lost pressure. The muck here is mighty thick, soupy, and more like excreta from the Swamp Thing to be honest. Thick, soupy mud was going everywhere, the deck was slick with a film of this crap. Heather had turned from white to a sort of chocolate brown, the anchor would not come up into the roller (a' la today's luck) so I then proceeded to cover myself in mud in an effort to right the Delta. And the worst part...all of our rags were down below so we could dock. I had to take the wheel because the anchor was up, we were free...so I had to sacrifice my t-shirt...it is now crusty. You can't read the "Keep on Truckin'" logo, but it was a sacrificual shirt anyway. It will be laundered and put back into the "work" pile.
Anchor up, we got into dock without a problem - first time we've docked since March. Now we had to release for forestay before we could get into the lift.
So...
We attach the jib halyard to the spinnaker-clip on the bowsprit so we can tension it a bit, release the tension on the jib halyard. Well, the wire to line halyard was slightly frayed - one of the things we were going to replace. It forced the issue. We got the furling drum off fine but the tension on the wire-line halyard was just too much. The line snapped - I simultaneously heard the snap and felt the wind past my face when the spinnaker-clip broke free from the wood in the bowsprit. It had enough tension to swing up and over the lower set of spreaders. WOW! So now we have a broken piece on the bowsprit, a snapped halyard line wrapped around the spreaders...
We got hauled and blocked without incident, HP got pressure-washed. All's well for now. But we're dog-tired. The only bright side... we have unlimited power. Something we haven't had in a very long time...but still is not worth being on the hard. Neighbors dogs barking, smell of epoxy and paint in thr air, no water lapping against the hull...we're both swaying - equilubrium not quite right with the boat not in motion.
We're going to get our work done quick. Hopefully we can get splashed in 2-3 weeks. We'll see how it goes.
We've got to clean up the cabin so we can walk safely, not to mention sleep. Not going to proofread, you can find the errors easily enough. As usual, they are just me being sloppy after a long day. | 