Mast raising and lowering, on my Siren

I decided to make my first youtube video to demonstrate how easy and quickly it is to raise or lower a Siren 17 mast. I have been seeing numerous threads and videos of very complicated contraptions and 3 people to do this job. Well here is a video of a past middle aged man doing it solo:)

I probably raised and lowered the mast a half dozen times this morning while trying to get decent footage:)

Getting the Rigging up to spec:)

We got back home a couple weeks ago and have had a chance to get some work done on Phoenix.  First I stripped to old lines off the mast and boom, measured and ready to by replacements. The old lines were washed and retired to support roles around the house or other projects. Next I started checking out the standing rigging and came across an odd setup. There are 3 shrouds on each side, but there are only two chainplates! After much searching on the net I found from the Alberg site that early East Coast Tritons, up to at least hull #192 only had 2 shrouds, hence two chainplates.

The P.O. had simply used a toggle to allow the cap upper/top shroud(not cap as the shroud attaches at the level of the fore stay) and a lower shroud to share the chainplate that is inline with the mast. Not really a good idea and the old silicon-bronze(?) chainplate was worn about the clevis pin hole. Next when I pulled a the bolts on snapped off with very little torque.

So that made me abandon my initial plan to reuse the existing chainplates. Now I have a local machine shop making six new 1"x 3/16"x9.5" SS316L chainplates. I'll install the extra forward of the mast line an distance  equal to the aft chainplate offset.
Hope to have the new plates in hand by next week! I also talked with the machinist about building a tabernacle but he is really busy this time of year so I'll just use a A-frame to hoist the mast into place. The Westsail 32 service manual has a good writeup on using the tabernacle.

2015 Season starting from afar....

There is still three feet of snow on the ground but work on Phoenix is occurring either in Connecticut or Sri Lanka! I placed an order for a new Mainsail and a #2 (135%) Genoa with North Sails through local guy, Eric in Freeport Maine.

I'm having the mainsail built with 2 reef points, 4 leech battens, cunningham, foot skirt, triton insignia, sail number #190, and 3 draft stripes.
The genoa is being built with spreader patches, stanchion patches, 1 tell-tail window, sail number, and 3 draft stripes.

What finally got me going was while I'm wintering in Florida I gotten involved with the Lake Eustis Sailing Club racing on a Flying Scot 19. The Flying Scot is what they call a One-Design race boat. So we race against a fleet of between 12 and 24 other Flying Scots. I was lucky enough to team up with the local....I don't know what you call the local routinely fastest sailor so I'll just call him the "hot shoe". A term from auto racing.
I've found I really enjoy this kind of sailboat racing. We race twice monthly on weekends at LESC and Ray and I are also doing the Wednesday night, 6:25pm, racing with the Lake Monroe Sailing Association. We've also done a couple of regattas.

Returning with broken rudder after leading through leg 4 of 5 leg race:(

The LMSA racing is not One-Design however. At LMSA there are a variety of small sailboats, the largest I've seen is a Precision 27 this past Wed. They handicap the boats using the Portsmouth Rating The idea of handicapping is so very dissimilar sailboat can race competitively. We haven't done as well in the Wednesday night Rum Race series at LMSA with a 7th and 3rd.

But it's been so much fun that I've decided to race Phoenix this summer!!! 

I'll be racing with local yacht club, Northport Yacht Club, in Maine and they only do about 7 races but it's a start. This is also handicapped racing but under PHRF(Performance Handicap Racing Fleet) More on my rational for racing a 55 year old full keel Triton later:) Now just wishing the warmest winter globally on record would warm up Maine!

90 DegsF at 9am in Downeast Maine USA oh and I moved the mast off Phoenix:)

For Christ-sake please you southerners take your weather back! I decided to move the mast to ground level to improve movement around deck and to better evaluate what is needed to make the mast ready for sea. After some test lifts of the mast in place and getting a feel for the weight I decided it would be simple enough to lower it over the side using some 2"x4"x8ft studs and a 4:1 block and tackle. The 2x4 across the rear pushpit (the safety rail around the rear) was supporting the mast head and only stuck out about 3ft. This one was fine just laying on it's side. The forward 2x4 was counter levered much farther, maybe 5ft and the mast foot was much heavier so I ended up making a T with another 2x4. It may have been strong enough but I was a little worried by the bend and these are just cheap construction grade pine 2x4s. And once the T was built there was zero bend. 

The mast foot was much heavier, but I used the same procedure.  However, I should have left the mast head on the ground as the old sawhorse collapsed and dropped it to the ground.  I really should have seen this coming:( As soon as I lifted the mast foot at the bow, the mast wanted to slide downward to the rear. Then when I reset the mast, the saw horse tipped. I've really got to get "THINK IT THROUGH" tattooed on my forearm or something. Luckily the ground is soft and no harm done.

After some quick measurements to determine if this "new" mast matches the original mast/boom dimensions I cleared up the area and retreated to the basement for other projects and the coolness.