I apologise for the title of this post, but I couldn’t help myself. This day was make or break day as we had to cruise to a shipyard 4 nmi (Nautical Miles) away in order to renaissance with the repaired mast that had to be be lifted by a big, inland crane from a lorry, onto the boat and into an erected position. Just in case you didn’t know, 1 nmi = 1.15 miles = 1.852 km ;)
There were many variables that could work against us during the operation and the thought of something terrible happening would only ruin the day for everyone and also all the effort and perseverance that everyone put in to arrive at this critical moment. The weather could turn bad, meaning it would be difficult for us to work and dangerous for the crane that costs $1000 per hour. The mast is in an unknown state as the welding the initial guy did actually ripped open a day earlier because the mast fell off the supports while being painted and luckily someone else in the workshop just happened to know how to weld aluminium and who did it really well according to Captain Coen. Nobody will ever know how strong the mast is until one day, it may snap again.
The crane might not turn up or the truck might not show up or the guy who is managing the project might not know his way to the renaissance point, anything can happen in Colombia, so there were a lot of things that had to fall in place for this day to be a success.
After getting up and having a quick breakfast before lifting anchor, the project manager turned up on time and we revved up the engines. The weather was looking sunny and party clear, so at least that was one possible problem out of the way. We arrived at the shipyard on time and shortly after our arrival, the lorry turned up with the mast. We took the mast off the lorry by lifting it with four people and gently placing it on the dock.
Coen planned in two hours with the mast so that the last preparations could be made before erection. I helped Coen attach the radio antenna, connect a new co-axial connector to the cable and solder the tip. Then we connected the tri-colour (Red – Port, Green – Starboard and White – Stern) light that also sits at the top of the mast. All these connections had to be made on the ground as otherwise someone would have to climb the mast and that’s not fun working up there when there are swells or wakes.
Just as we finished the cabling and attaching the ropes, pulleys and shrouds, the crane arrived to lift the mast. So far so good. As the mast was positioned into the box, Coen realised that one of the shrouds was caught up on the wrong side of the lifting belt, so attaching the fore-stay was impossible. The mast had to be taken back to the dock and the shrouds and ropes were sorted out. After sorting it all out the seconds attempt was a success! The mast was in place, the shrouds tightened, the ropes untangled and everyone was happy.
What a relief it was to see that mast erected again and now we had a good chance for leaving on Saturday. The initial departure date was on 13th August and was pushed way back to the week after as the welding took quite a long time to complete. So, now we planned to leave on Saturday 24th August.
To finish off a hard mornings work, Victoria prepared some killer chicken wraps with cheese, backed beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, salad and an interesting vegetable in mayonnaise called elephant balls (at least that’s what Coen calls them). An excellent feast to finish off a job well done. Soon after, we returned to the marina to be greeted by a nice Australian couple we met on many occasion with a cute green yacht called Leaf who cheered for us as we arrived. They knew Coen, Richard and Ruth quite well as they too had been in Cartagena for a while. The crew of the Grazia had been in Cartagena for two months trying to get a replacement for the mast after calling over twenty companies and receiving many quotes, Coen was left no other choice but to repair the snapped mast.
More to follow as we make the last preparations for the boat to set sail for San Blas.
