Hi Everybody,

Today we start painting the bottom. It only needs a light sanding and then two coats of bottom paint. We contracted the yard to do this dirty job. We are staying away from the boat while the dust flies. This gives us a little time to write an email and post a blog upday to catch you up on our first week in the yard.

The picture is of Adagio at the mast pulling station. She's dirty, and the sun has baked the duct tape to dust, but otherwise she survived the summer OK.

Our first project is to pull the mast and fix whatever has been causing the main halyard sheaves from turning properly. Before we can pull the mast, we need to un-do all the electrical connections in the bilge then stuff those wires into the mast base so we don't cut them as the stick passes through the mast collar on it's way out of the boat. Of course all the standing rigging also needs to be loosened and disconnected from the boat. Next the mast has to be rigged to the crane and hoisted up and out of the boat. We put tarps down to protect the wires from grit and dust as we land the mast onto jack stands.

Then the yard workers go away and leave it to Ed and I to sort through the various parts of the mast. First we look to see why the main halyard sheave is not turning properly. After some poking about, we discover one of the screws that holds the Windex (wind direction indicator) to the top of the mast is too long. It passes through the top of the mast and pushes against a separation plate which jambs the sheave. We fix that problem, then move on to inspecting and cleaning all the pins and shackles and other fittings. Then we do a little repair to the mast step in the boat. Finally we get the mast itself cleaned and polished and we are ready to put the stick back in the boat. That gets done, and the trailer comes to move us to a regular work station so that other boats can get their masts serviced.

Today the bottom job is getting done. Usually we wait until we are only a few days from launching to do the bottom. But this year we decided to wait to clean the boat until we were finished with sanding the bottom. That way we will get the sanding dust cleared away at the same time we wash away the summer's dust.

Both Janie and I are a little under the weather. Janie's pneumonia is still giving her trouble. We took her to the local doctor who changed her meds a little. I have a bit of a sore throat and slightly swollen glands in my neck. We are taking lots of vitamins, drinking loads of water, and trying to get some extra rest. With the boat back in a normal work station, the pressure is off to get lots done as soon as possible. Maybe we can back off a bit now. Keep making progress on the boat, but back off just a bit and give our bodies a chance to heal.

We hope this finds you all well and happy.

J&J