Two days ago we moved the boat into La Cruz Marina, and surprise, I really hate it here at the dock. It's not that this isn't a nice marina. It's nicely kept and in great shape with exceedingly friendly staff - I simply dislike being in a marina. I can't find any way to understand why I have to pay $40 a day to be at this marina while my quality of life is degraded! On the hook there are usually cool breezes and the boat is always aligned to catch them. Your closest neighbour is a hundred or more feet away.

Here, in this very nice marina, it is much hotter, there is no breeze, and I have other boaters less than 10' away! But, in spite of this, we know many cruisers around us that spend nearly all of their time in different marina's along the way. Oh well, I'll continue to scratch my head and will just chock it up to "different strokes, for different folks." Of course, I am right and they are wrongÉ :) But, since we are flying back to BC for a couple of weeks to visit the parents and buy boat parts, we need the boat to be here while we are gone.

Marinas are a good place to get boat jobs done. It's going to be hot and uncomfortable anyway, so why not work outside in the blazing sun at the same time? As well, when I drop my tools, there is at least a slim chance that they will hit the dock instead of going directly overboard.

The last few days were all about rig work. First, I added more prebend to my mast. I have quite a bit of weather helm and a very full main so I am experimenting here to see if I can improve our performance. The mast looks much better so I am very anxious to go for a sale in a stiff breeze as soon as we get back.

Then, I took off our forestay and both shrouds, one at a time of course, and have added some spacer washers on either side of the lug that connects to the chainplate. The gap on either side of the lug was quite big and I was not comfortable with the forestay or shroud pulling at a bit of an angle to its mount. Over time, this would add more stress to the rig than needs to be there.

I had a halyard and a backup halyard in place when I took the forestay off, but it was an incredibly stressful experience. If something let go, my rig would have come crashing down not only on my boat, but on the big cat Profligate from the latitude 38 magazine owners which is right behind me. It would have been embarrassing enough without undoubtedly being covered by the magazine. However, all went well and my rig is all back together, in column, and looking better then ever.

Tonight, we finish off the last of the perishable food, pack up the various bits we need to take back to Victoria, and get ready to fly out tomorrow. Although the weather in Victoria is fantastic, it sure is going to feel cold after what we have been used to.