We would leave the British Virgin Islands for the adjacent US Virgin Islands to re-visit some favorite spots on St. John and explore some new anchorages there with Clara along. We departed BEYC at 0815 on March 22nd for Soper's Hole, Tortola to clear out of BVI. We had a nice downwind sail in ENE 15-20 on genoa alone (recall the mainsail halyard is broken). Departing North Gorda Sound, Dave decided to try the shallow channel at the west end of the sound near Mosquito Island instead of going out the usual exit/entrance on the north side of the Sound. He had seen other boats successfully use that channel and wanted to confirm it was a reliable route for future use when needing to save time getting into or out of Gorda Sound. This worked very well and we sailed through the channel of reasonable depths downwind on the genoa.

We arrived at Soper’s Hole around 1130, picked up a mooring ball, and cleared out of BVI. This included adding Clara to the crew list and removing Larry and Wally from the crew list. While in the calm of Soper’s Hole Dave wanted to try to rethread the mainsail halyard, rearrange the masthead crane hardware, and had procured some parts he thought he would need for this task while in Florida. In Florida he was also able to easily communicate with Bob and Beckie of sistership S/V Our White Magic whose mast was unstepped and easily accessible to assist in identifying what changes were needed on our mast to eliminate the halyard chafe problem. Dave had concluded that the chafe issue existed since original construction and either the sail headboard or mast crane needed to be modified to better match the other. Wally also assisted by visiting Bob & Beckie where their boat is hauled in Reedville, VA. Wally had first hand knowledge of our mast and was able to see what differences might be present on the mast of Our White Magic. This was a tremendous help to Dave’s analysis.

Calm conditions were needed because this project would require at least two trips to the top of the mast, 70 ½ feet up. This is not safe to do in a rolly anchorage. To get up the mast, Dave is hoisted in a bosun’s chair using the boom topping lift on the cockpit electric winch which Donna operates. We’ve done this many times before, but it’s always a nervous exercise. Good thing that Dave thinks Donna is very good at her important role.

On his first trip up the mast, Dave planned to insert a fishing sinker on fishing line over the masthead sheave (pulley) and lower it down the mast where Donna would retrieve it as it exited the open bottom of the mast. While up there he would install the new hardware intended to eliminate the chafe problem. For good measure he planned to grind down the chafe point with a dremel tool grinder in. He would then come down spooling out more fishing line bringing it with him, attach the fishing line hanging out the bottom of the mast to the broken end of the halyard that was retrieved from the bottom of the mast, and pull the halyard up and over the top of the mast sheave using the fishing line and back down to the deck. Completing that, we would thread the halyard through the 2:1 halyard block on the sail head board and Dave would then go back up the mast with the bitter end of the halyard and tie it off at the mast head crane. Did you follow all of that??? Of course, it played out differently….

Dave was successful in dropping the sinker and fishing line over the mast head sheave and Donna retrieved it at the mast base. Before coming down, Dave determined his hardware fix to the chafe problem would not work (a sizing matter) and was left with only grinding down the sharp chafe point with the dremel tool. Temporarily, maybe this would be sufficient to get us back to the Chesapeake where we could unstep the mast and engineer a real fix.

Dave came down and the broken end of the halyard was clean cut and attached to the fishing line inside the mast. Attempts to pull it up the mast with the other end of the fishing line failed. The fishing line just stretched. To eliminate this complication, we got out the damaged halyard we had removed back in St. Lucia. Dave would take the good end of this halyard up the mast, secure the fishing line to it at the mast head and lower it over the mast head sheave and down through the mast as Donna pulled down with the fishing line, guiding it down. Then the two halyards would be sewn together and the pulled back out over the top. Did you follow all of that???

With some complications, this plan worked. Donna retrieved the end off the old halyard pulling it down with the fishing line as Dave fed it in from the top. Donna then lowered Dave down the mast and the two ends of the halyards were sewn together and we started to pull the whole assembly up and back down from the outside. But it would only go a few feet before being snagged and stopped by something. What was causing this? Dave stuck his forearm up through the bottom of the mast to try to feel what was causing the problem.

To his surprise, he discovered the halyard was being routed up through a wire conduit! Inside the mast are two wire conduits about 1.5 inches in diameter, one at the forward side and one at the aft side of the inside of the mast, through which pass wires to antennas, lights, wind instruments, and the radar dome. Dave’s discovery meant that when he initially lowered the sinker and fishing line down the inside of the mast over the halyard sheave, the sinker dropped directly into the open end of the aft wire conduit! A hole in one! Unfortunately, this wasn’t the route we were targeting. We had to find another way to force the line through a path outside the dedicated wire conduit. Dave needed a break. We quit for the day and went ashore to the bar and shops at Soper’s Hole, which would be much more entertaining for guest Clara.

With revived energy after a good night’s sleep, we recommenced the halyard project early the next morning. We wanted to take advantage of being secure on a mooring ball in Soper’s Hole to perform the mast head work – no matter how many more trips up the mast were involved (even though it meant teetering aloft with occasional nearby boat wakes).

With a clear head over a beer ashore the previous evening Dave had devised a scheme to hopefully thread the halyard along the desired route inside the mast. We’d start over with the sinker and fishing line, but he’d thread the sinker and line through a small diameter plastic tube, split along one side, and use this to pass the sinker further forward over the mast head sheave before allowing it to drop – hopefully bypassing/avoiding the opening of the wire conduit.

On trip #3 up the mast Dave took the end of the old halyard along with his new fangled fishing gear. Inserting the plastic tubing over the mast head sheave he lowered the sinker again and Donna successfully retrieved it below. Donna then confirmed that Dave had missed the wire conduit– the fishing line was hanging down the mast interior outside of it. YAY! Dave then tied the fishing line to the end of the old halyard and Donna pulled it down the inside of the mast with the fishing line. Dave came down, spliced the two halyards together, and successfully pulled the existing halyard up and over the top of the mast sheave down to the deck.

On trip #4 up the mast Dave took the bitter end of the halyard after threading it through the headboard 2:1 block and tied it to the mast crane. Mission accomplished. It ain’t all rum and mangoes…