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Misto - Days 65-67: Up the mast in the Pacific.



The last couple of days have gone by and almost melded into one. We moved further south to almost 12 degrees south in the hope of retaining reasonable wind, and by and large this has been successful. Only today are we experiencing winds as low as 11-13 knots directly from the east.

This morning Howard noticed that our VHF antenna at the masthead had become completely loose. In all honesty we had been watching it wobble for about a week and hoping that it would hang on until we reached Hiva Oa. There was really only one option - go up the mast to fix it. We debated whether to douse the parasailor or leave it up and decided on the latter as we felt that, running downwind with the waves and the sail up, would give the most (relatively) stable platform. This happens to be a "pink" job aboard Misto and Ros kitted up with all the necessary safety gear to go up. She was winched slowly up and bolted the antenna back on - everything else looked OK with the exception of a fitting we have on the forward diamond of the spreaders which is designed to protect the jib from chafe. We knew it was broken and it looks like it will need some epoxy work done on it - but only when we are in a nice, calm anchorage! Back on deck she has lots of bruises to show for the experience, but nothing worse. At least now we know this is possible to do at sea - even if it's not a desirable activity!
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At 3/14/2017 2:40 PM (utc) our position was 11°57.86'S 120°32.59'W

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