It was the morning of the mast-raising day, and the boat had to be moved a kilometer to the neighboring marina's mast tower. Power on, glow plugs, and ignition. There was a click, and the engine didn't come to life. Another attempt, and the same click. The engine remained silent. Was this the end of it? Fortunately, the friend who came to help with the mast raising knew these tricks. Do you have a hammer? Hatch open, and a couple of firm taps with the hammer on the starter. Another attempt, and the engine came to life. So, the first item on the repair list would be changing the starter.

Despite all the scary stories, mast raising turned out to be surprisingly easy with a knowledgeable person by my side. The mast was of the so-called deck-stepped type, meaning there's a shoe (a kind of rail) on the deck to which the mast is attached with one or two bolts. In some boats, the mast goes through the deck and is secured to a spot on the boat's floor. I've never liked this attachment method because the cold mast stands in the middle of the cabin and is always in the way.

The bolt in the mast shoe doesn't keep the mast upright; it's the shrouds that do, which, of course, went every which way the first time the mast was raised. Similarly, the spreaders were skewed, i.e., the supports across the mast that are attached to the ends of the shrouds. Half a day of climbing, and the mast was in order in those respects.

Then we encountered the next problem. The mast had only two lines in place, coming out from the bottom on the left side and from the top at the back. The boat had two large winches, but only one spinnaker lock on the right side. How on earth had the boat been sailed the previous season when the main halyard comes to the left side, and the only spinnaker lock is on the right side? And how do you raise the roller furling jib when the only lines in place are needed for the main halyard and the boom?

The project began to move the existing lines down to the other side of the mast and add new lines for the roller furling jib. We read every tip on the internet on how to handle this and tried them all for the following week. In the end, there was only one line left in the mast, and it was on the wrong side.

Fortunately, another diving student of mine came to the rescue, and we decided to solve the problem by drilling a 30 mm hole in the mast. The plan was to fish a wire, aided by a line with a lead weight threaded through the mast. The hole was made in an instant, but the next problem was that the lower part of the mast was filled with nesting material from some creature. It took a whole bucket to clean it out. No wonder the line hadn't fed through the mast. It wouldn't have gone through there at all. The rest was relatively easy, until it came time to add the new lines on the left side of the mast for the roller furling jib. It just wouldn't work. In the end, we had to give up and use the sheave in front of the mast for the roller furling jib halyard.

It was time to open the sail bags and see what had come with the boat. The mainsail (21.6 square meters) was in reasonably good condition. In contrast, Genoa I (47 square meters) had been patched several times and sunburned. It would last for the first summer or the first sail. Just had to patch it up on a calm evening. And the next day, a trial sail. The boat sailed with just the mainsail at 3-4 knots, but after unfurling the Genoa, the speed increased to 6-7 knots. A calm boat, not leaning too much, and behaving nicely in turns.

Capt. Simma

Dictated but not read.