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After the hatch installation was completed my boating life settled down to the normal equipment and maintenance work associated with owning a boat.

In mid-September Peter Austin, a work colleague from my early years at Murdoch University who had helped me get my start in sailing in the mid 1980's, helped me with a task that involved an unpleasant climb to the top of the mast.  

The project was to reinstate the cord barrier between the mast steps and the shrouds to stop the main halyard from wrapping around the mast steps, something that could be dangerous when raising or reefing the mainsail in rough conditions. 

It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and sail

The rigger had recommended a solution using very light building cord that didn't make sense to me so I used the same system that had gotten me around the world with no problem.  In 2008 in preparation for the circumnavigation and in Mexico before departing for the Horn I had made this climb alone, but being older and wiser I now had the precaution of a harness with Peter down on the deck working the safety line.

I passed 3mm polyester cord between the mast steps and the shrouds and after about one hour of slow and methodical work the job was done.  We celebrated with lunch at the club.

Peter and I did what was my first JAM ("Jib and Main") afternoon sail on Sunday 18 October, accompanied by John, a very experienced sailor who usually crews with Jim MacBeth, a fellow sailor from my Murdoch University days. We also did a short "shakedown" sail to Rockingham and back.