Finally, the big day arrived yesterday - Monday! The day of Orcinius's remasting! I was a bit nervous because the wind was gradually increasing throughout the morning. But everything went fine with only a few hick-ups. Our mast had been kept over at Cannibal John's for the cyclone season, just a short ride away further back up the bay and into the mangroves. Back in the mangroves, the wind turned into just a light breeze. And we had a much better plan for tying Orcinius up against the bank this time. David, Malo, and Moses took the dingy into the mangroves about 10 minutes ahead of us and tied the lines off to a couple of mangrove trees. So all we had to do was pull up along side the trees and they handed us the lines to tie off to. Then the wind gradually blew us to the other side of the canal, next to the bank, where we tied off 2 more lines.


Worked like a champ. We even had plenty of time to spare before the crane showed up at noon, so we had some snacks under the shade of the trees while we waited.

The crane showed up on time, and the boom went onto Orcinius first.

Arrival of the crane.


Josiah ready for action!


Orcinius ready for action!

We just placed it on the deck and will install it back onto the mast later this week. Next came the mast. It was all going fine until we went to place it on it's step, but the mast was at such an angle that we couldn't get it to sit squarely on it's platform. So the crane operator had to lift it up each time before he could re-adjust the top of the cranes position, then would drop it back down - a bit too fast for my comfort level! After the fourth try, we finally got it positioned squarely on the foot, and then had the crane operator just hold that position. Now we could connect the forestay. John and David were working the pin of the forestay when we saw something drop into the water. Yikes! Thank goodness it was only a spacing washer and not the pin!

Next, we had to untie all the other lines and rigging from the mast - which were tied snug to the mast with one of John's fancy knots. He had placed a special knot in 3 different locations up the mast - one good tug, and the first knot came un-done, a second strong tug and the next higher up knot came un-done, and a third good tug and ... nothing. Tug harder. Nothing. Oh crap-ola. Everything was tied to the mast and we had no way to send someone up via a halyard. David to the rescue! He shimmied up the mast like it was a coconut tree! Wish I had a picture! He was up to the first set of spreaders in no time, held on with one hand and broke the knot free with the other. We were back in business!

We were then able to re-connect the rest of the rigging, and finally send David up the mast the proper way - with a bosun chair and a halyard, to disconnect the cranes sling from the mast. John was not feeling well mid-way through re-masting process, so he went below to get out of the sun for a bit - probably had a touch of heat stroke coming on. So now that we were finished with the crane, I had to go back over to shore and pay the man. He called back to the office to get the price, wrote it down on a receipt and handed it to me. He wanted $775! What!? Way more than we (I) expected. They had sent a crane that was way oversized for the job - the only one available so they said, and wanted to charge us for it. So the crane operator handed the phone over to me to talk with the main office, and I told them we hadn't paid over $400 last year for the same job. I finally got them down to $600. Once I got back on the boat I told John what had happened and he said we actually paid $575 last year. Oops! Oh well - I guess we kind of met somewhere in the middle after all.

I was busy helping with the rigging most of the afternoon, so was slacking on my photography duties, but here are a few other photos from the day...

Me taking a picture of Moses taking a picture.






Here come the mast! Last picture of the day.

We motored Orcinius back to the marina. The wind had picked up even more, but we pulled up to the dock without a problem (it also helps to have 4 sets of extra hands to throw and catch lines!). Some of the big cruise ships coming in later in the day were having some major problems docking with all the wind - they almost took out an entire swath of boats on the other side of the dock.

We were all pretty wiped out from the day, so we did a little bit of clean up, then headed over to the golf course for beer and pizza with the guys. They had all done an awsome job and deserved a few cold ones.

Once John and I got back to Orcinius, it was all we could do to get through the shower and stay awake until 8. We were beat. But we definitely picked the right day to do it, as today it is raining cats and dogs, and the wind is howling. Today we update the blog and can a bunch of fresh tuna given to us by one of the kiwi fishermen out on the docks.

All for now!
Lisa