Mast repairs

Today my dad, grandfather, and Adam took turns going to the top of the
mast and trying to fix it. (editors comment: there was no problem with the
mast, we had to replace the fitting for the spinnaker halyard at the top
of the mast) You can't go up there too long because you get all oozy and
throw up, then there would be a nuclear throw up bomb at the bottom of the
deck. Adam is going to the top again because part of his job is to do
basically the same thing that we're doing.

That's where Dan left off yesterday. We did finally get the new masthead
fitting installed after four trips to the top. We set the Parasailor and
started really moving again. Then we had hamburgers for Thanksgiving
dinner (because they were at the top of the freezer).. We were all too
exhausted to stay awake, so we postponed the blog update until today. I
(Nick Sr) had the 9 PM to Midnight watch, normally a choice watch because
you just go to bed a little later. Last night I had a really hard time
staying awake. I started out on the windward side of the cockpit, but
every time I nodded off I'd go rocketing across to the leeward (downhill)
side of the cockpit. After that had happened a couple of time I decided
it was only a matter of time before I hit my head, broke a tooth or
whatever, so I moved to the leeward side. That wasn't so great either.
The wind was right in my face and I was freezing. No danger of falling
asleep, but not very comfortable. Then I found the perfect solution, I
moved back to the windward side, got my iPod, and listened to Janis Joplin
turned up loud enough to induce hearing loss. That worked until midnight
when I was relieved by Tom.

For some perverse reason, the autopilot decided to turn itself off just as
I reached the bottom of the companionway. It was as if it was protesting
having to serve a new master for 3 more hours. The boat immediately
started to round up into the wind and the sails made a terrible racket.
We got that sorted out and I went to bed and slept like the dead until 9
AM.

This morning Adam, Nick Jr. and I all woke up with assorted bruises and
abrasions, but no major damage and a small price to pay for the ability to
sail faster and in the direction we want to go. Adam and Dan made
scrambled eggs for breakfast and they're now playing backgammon. Adam
plays the rule that if you throw doubles on the first role, the game is
doubled. Adam and Dan just threw doubles twice in a row, so this game is
worth four. Dan is pretty good, so the outcome is in doubt (in fact he
just won).

We're flying along right on course and life is good.