Dog River, Showers and my mast!

The ceremony was short, sparsely attended but nonetheless dignified as the two little black buttons were pushed and Mini-me collapsed, slowly lowering the radar deflector and the Loopers flag to the deck where the saga of the valiant little mast whose one opportunity at greatness entered a cocoon like phase until once again low bridges make his rise to the occasion necessary. Minnie Me served well from Chicago to Mobile. A service any whisker pole would be proud to attempt.

The day before we had a welcome surprise as we looked back to see that "Amalia" had decided to accompany us to Dog River. I think that Greg's background in management may have told him these people shouldn't be left alone when attempting complex operations.

We found the big mast over beside the marsh grasses where it had spent the last 6 months. With the help of Cheryl, Greg Leslie and Mike we hoisted the mast and carried it to where we could work on it conveniently. The crane would arrive at 9:am the next morning so there was lots to do. I think I was carrying more weight than Cheryl but we won't go into that now.

The crane operator said that we shouldn't be surprised by the noise that is made if the mast slips in the strap. I nodded stupidly not knowing that he was yanking my chain. He suggested that we tie a secondary line down around the lower spreaders that would prevent this from happening. I thought "that will work". Everything went without a hitch. We felt so good we went to the Yacht Club for lunch and had some cold beers. Of course the beers made us old folks sleepy so we had to have a little nap. Greg showed genuine concern when he said "I hope this doesn't have a negative affect on Happy Hour".

So here I sit with todays blog finished and just some little things to finish up. We have to put the sails on, do some rigging tape on the spreaders and buy some charts of the Pensecola area. Then we just have to wait till the weather is right and we are on our way. We now have a mast that is too high (52ft overall) so we will not attempt any intercoastal waterway routes. Some bridges are only 50 ft.

Peter and Cheryl, Surona, Mini-me (retired), Greg Leslie and Amalia