Smashed

posted in: Canary Islands 8

So Greg went up the mast today.  This means Mel is smashed.  She should explain…

Mel and Greg are prepping the boat to cross the Atlantic AGAIN.  UGH.  Since Greg’s fear of heights is only one notch less than Mel’s fear of heights (which left her clinging to the second floor of a medieval castle in Portugal, panting, “You go on ahead, I’ll be fine!” in her “doctor-talk”…), afterwards, we have had our obligatory 5 rounds of scotch, to numb the pain experienced in Greg’s “knee-area” from contact with the boom upon descent.  Mel, who was in charge of the lines, says, “Musculoskeletal complaints need to go to PM&R.”  Ahem.

Tommy says right now, “Americans are HUGE.  In height-wise, (and sometimes fat-wise), we are right up there with the Dutch and the Germans.”  So we have been good, world-schooling parents.  The wisdom of children.

So recently, the Burnetts have learned that BOTH OF their secondary shrouds have suffered: “stranding”, a cut in both their secondary shroud strands, “critical failure” per the rigging folks, and Bob Ross of Leopard, and NCR…SO WE HAVE FIXED THAT; WE FEEL VICTORIOUS!!  Now that we fixed this, this means our mast won’t fall off on the way to Barbados!!  Our rigging guy here in the Canaries won Gold in the Barcelona Olympics; this makes us trust him.  Before one crosses the Atlantic, one believes Olympic Gold-medalists.  AND NCR.  And Bob.  This is an aphorism.

So the Burnetts are busy prepping the boat to cross the Atlantic.  Not sexy stuff.  Mel is busy calculating amounts of required salami.  On a daily basis they have to say, “Sorry, we don’t need crew.  Yes, it’s just us.  And yes, that’s all we want.  Go away.”  Ah, the down-side of owning a Leopard 48!  Best part: NO SNOW!  Here are some pics:

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8 Responses

  1. Jayson
    | Reply

    Just found you Burnett’s!
    Thanks for a great blog. Am looking at getting a L48. The pages of repairs is a bit daunting. I guess everyone living aboard has plenty of things that need fixing. Keep up the great work – I look forward to reading more of your adventures!.

    • Mel
      | Reply

      You probably shouldn’t look at that page anytime soon…

  2. Jayson
    | Reply

    Just found you Burnett’s!
    thans for a great blog. Am looking at getting a L48. The pages of repairs is a bit daunting. I guess everyone living aboard has plenty of things that need fixing. Keep up the great work – I look forward to reading more of your adventures!.

  3. Rick Kwasnicki
    | Reply

    HI,

    Which Yanmar agent did you get? We are waiting outside in the anchorage for a spot, but would like to get a service agent to look at our engines.. We have less than 500 hours on them but find they leave soot on our hulls. We are also doing a crossing and would like them checked out.

    Regards, Rick
    SV Airborne
    Lagoon 450F

    • Mel
      | Reply

      Rick, This might be too late for you, but we used Cazorla Reparaciones Navales — they are right across from the marina. They were very good. We are back in the anchorage ourselves right now!

      • Rick Kwasnicki
        | Reply

        Hi

        Thanks… I think we saw you behind us last night.. We left early Wed morning to meet up with Fernando who was going to arrange the Yanmar dealer, but it will not happen till noon on Thursday.. We are hoping to be on our way to St Martin by Thursday afternoon…

        Regards, Rick

  4. Owen Roberts
    | Reply

    Hi Mel and Greg, love your blog!
    Question – do you know what caused the shroud damage? Reason I ask is we take possession of a Leopard 48 next year – would like to avoid the same problem on a relatively young boat.
    Best of luck for the crossing – wishing you fair winds!

    • Mel
      | Reply

      Might be the 12,000 nautical miles we put on it! The insertion of the shroud into the connector can never be perfectly water-tight, and we’re guessing some corrosion set in. Some people just go for Dyneema rigging instead, but that wasn’t feasible here.

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