when in doubt, blame the Chinese?

No, Blame it on Global warming.

DHo
TheMightyHobie18 1067

I've been on two of those boats, on Kauai and the Big Island, and had such great times that I decided that would be my new goal... to abandon my land-locked life on the mainland, and get a job as a crew member on snorkeling excursions. The down side is it would mean a lot of time spent holding barf-buckets for tourists (and dodging falling masts).

Naaaaa, that's what the mesh tramps are for.

For my cruise of the Na Pali coast on the "Lucky Lady", there was one woman who heaved from the moment she set foot on the boat till she was back on dry land, and one patient crewman who stayed with her and held her bucket the whole time (dumping it over the stern as she filled it).

It seemed to me that most of those guys had specific reasons for being on a remote island, away from society, working for tips. But when I look out my window at the snow, and think of the bills I owe, it seems like a pretty good life to escape to.

I have a buddy who was at the masthead in a bosun chair when the step broke loose, the mast fell over sideways, landing across the booms of the boats in the next 3 slips, leaving him dangling from the chair in the **** of the last boat to where he could straighten his legs and stand up, not a scratch on him. Lucky!

Ohmygosh! I have been at the top of too many masts, and it never even occurred to me that the mast would fall over while I was up there. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

I've only been up a mast once. Didn't care for it. The headsail wouldn't furl because it was getting caught on something at the top. Fairly windy with the jib flogging made the boat rock in the slip quite a bit. I know I was swaying farther than the boat is wide. A 30' Tartan looks pretty small from the mast head.

Up the stick where the air is thin...







Worn-through sheave on the main halyard. Wish I'd taken a camera up like Karl did.

is that the RC27 we knew and loved?

I have been to the top of the J36's 50 ft mast twice. Once at dock to retrieve the main halyard that had gone aloft on its own. This was due to the composite shackle, the line wieghed more than the shackle, if you let go, it went up. The fun/scary part of that is that the J36 is a fraction rig which means the main halyard is the only one that goes up all the way, the rest stop at the forstay. Free climbing a mast the last few feet is scary, even with a harness on. Second climb was also at the dock, I think to repair a windvane or something like that. It is always unnerving to be up there because while the boat may only be rocking a few degrees, it translates into feet at the end of the big stick.

There's a lot of escapees in the islands. Divorce, money problems, job problems, you name it. They seem to think all their problems will go poof when they hit the beach on Maui. Interestingly, most of them don't last more than nine months after reality sets in.

There's also a lot of college dropouts. "I was here on spring break and decided to take a break from school."

"How long have you been here?"

"Six years."