Day 161, Year 4 Disaster Strikes
Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Weather: Sunny Morning; Rain Storms in the Afternoon
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island

So the day was spent preparing to raise the mast. All the hardware was installed, lines were run, wiring was ready to feed into the boat. The crane arrived promptly at 2:00 and we all flew into action. The mast was connected to the crane and hoisted into position over the mast base on the cabin top. Then it all went to hell in a hand-basket. The crane jerked, the mast dropped a couple feet, it struck the deck and the nice new paint job was destroyed with massive gashed across the deck. It would take weeks to repair. We were devastated — then we realized what day it was. April Fools!!!!!

So April’s Fools aside, we actually we had a terrific day. In an unbelievable four and a half days we got the mast and boom ready to be raised. At exactly 2 pm the crane arrived and at exactly the same time, the afternoon rains arrived. So in driving rain, Oh and his crew, along with Mark and I, got the mast stepped. We had a few problems and things didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped, but the job is done and we are now ready to splash. If things continue to go as planned, we will be in the water by late tomorrow afternoon, so tomorrow night’s log might be from a Windbird back in the water.

090401 Day 161 Boat Lagoon, Phuket, Thailand–Canvas Fitted & Mast Goes Up