These two men are my heroes!!  They lowered the mast and put it onto the ground!  Against the advice of well-meaning friends, they knew better!  Some of the rigging was in poor shape and needs to be replaced!  Some of the fiberglass was loose at the bottom of the mast and 3 feet of dry rot was found.  So we will fix the fiberglass, replace the rotted wood, the rigging cord and fittings, and will paint the mast and boom.

While the mast is down, it will give me a chance to follow another sailing tradition!  When the mast is replaced, tradition calls for placing a gold doubloon - in my case, it will be a silver dollar- under the mast.  That way - you will never be out of money!!!

Well - a bit of news - while the mast was down - we found about 3 feet of dry rot at the bottom of the mast where the fiberglass was loose!  I was heartbroken!! But guess that is one of the draw-backs to having a wooden mast!  More money to go into that hole in the water!!  But my friend, Bob, said "not to worry", went to the lumber yard, and for less than $20 got enough wood to fix it - cut and shaped, and had it repaired that afternoon!  We coated the new wood with polyester resin - to protect it from the rain!  Now, we just have to repair the fiberglass, paint it - and it will be good as new!