elixir: report from the boatswain's chair

We decided to do the forestay in Dyneema along with the rest of the standing rigging. I think we were worried about getting a new rod forestay and attachments in time for our vacation, and wire didn't seem like a great option either. Well, we are here to say with some amount of authority: don't do Dyneema with a jib with hanks. The Dyneema begins to fray right away, it isn't that slippy, and when you buy new sails you have to specify hanks that fit big ol' Dyneema.

We got new laminate sails and the hanks did not really fit.

So Jarred called BSI and they happened to have a T-bar fitting from Tartan 101 that would work for us. We got it a week later along with a rod forestay.

So up the mast I went. I am not afraid of heights, and I went up the mast for the Haida 26 ten years ago or so. But I think it takes a while to get used to, like maybe more than twice in ten years. I think I was tense enough that even some minor wrenching was tiring for my hands. And I couldn't look down much until I was done - horizon good, task at hand good, straight down not so good. It didn't help that I had to bring up the rod forestay in an armpit hold - next time I tie stuff on, since I hate to think of what would have happened if I had dropped a 40 foot rod forestay on the deck. I had also stuffed most tools in my bra top - T-bar, measuring tape, wrench, Loctite, paper towels, cell phone all were in trusty bra top.