The one thing I dread about sailing is having to go up the mast. The last step in our preparations to leave Goderich is to put my wind instruments on the top of the main mast. Not a good place for a guy who is terrified of heights to be. It’s at times like this that a trawler looks like a really good option.

Please don’t make me go up there!

Anyway, I survived the ordeal & Chris was good enough to let me back down so we could start our journey.

Don’t look down!

At last the masts are up! It was a really hot day in the marina today. We spent the morning attaching all of the rigging to the masts & then hoisted them up after lunch with the help of a few dock mates.

Now we’re fitting the sails. We should still be on schedule for an early morning departure on Tuesday.

Today we begin to get the masts ready to stand on deck. I am always amazed at how the rigging is able to keep these two brutes standing through all kinds of wind & waves.

We recruited Mitchell from the marina to help us two old guys wrestle the main mast off the storage rack and haul over to the mast hoist. With any luck we will have them standing before dinner tonight.