Sampaguita has her mast lowered again this week for a port shroud replacement and thorough inspection. The port shroud had some conflict with a sail ring during my Vancouver Island rounding and neither got out unscathed. I decided it was worthy of refreshing and the sailmaker has the sail in hand.

I reviewed some of my old video in prepping for today’s lowering. It’s important and easier to not cut corners on the prep. When you do it right, the lowering happens so quickly and easily. I still get nervous because if something goes wrong, it could be pretty bad.

Locally, Gus, with the Olympic Crane Service is the go-to for mast stepping. I like Gus, and he is very experienced in his line of work. I’ve stepped a mast with him and Olivier on Breskell. The cost was $225 per hour. So, a round trip would be $450.

This is why I have a small boat. It’s not for the comfort.🤣 It is so I can. So I can have a fighting chance to maintain it properly. So I can raise and lower the mast at the cost of a few hours. So I don’t have to defer maintenance or rationalize it away.

Here’s a link to the ‘Lectronic Latitude article I wrote about lowering a small boat’s mast:

https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/2021/06/16/#lowering-the-mast-on-a-small-boat-with-the-resourceful-sailor

Here’s a video from the previous mast lowering: