Visit to Berkovich Boat Yard - 3, Whisker Pole

Whisker pole contracted to 10 ft length

One of my objectives had been to find a whisker pole.  We walked down the ladder from Doug's boat and he pointed one out on the dirt underneath the next boat.  Doug find the Berkovich whom I should see about the pole and I was asked what a new one cost.  I replied that I wasn't sure, maybe $500 or $600.  (West Marine lists a comparable one at $773.)  David jumped in on my behalf and said that he had paid less than $200 for a new one (must have been a long time ago) and that $100 would be a fair price.  It took a while, but I was finally asked the strange amount of $102 for the pole, and 1300 pesos became the agreed sum.  I can't complain.  Given that I sold my long, heavy, and clunky spinnaker pole for $80 I've now got a more useful whisker pole at a net cost of $22.

At full length of 17.5 ft

The pole lengths range from  2.3 meters (10 ft) to 5.3 meters (17.4 ft).  This is about 1 meter, or 3 ft short of the ideal for my headsail, but it should still be very useful for downwind work.  At worst I'll have to roll in the headsail a bit.