The boat came with all her running rigging, right quality, right lengths, right eye splices  but the rope was black with mildew and generally tawdry.  Only the best for the Norfolk Gypsy!  So I decide to replace the old rope for new. Big mistake!

Some of the former rigging rope, post washing machine.

I foolishly do  not consult the gurus that surround me about what sort of new rope I should buy, but rush off and purchase 200 meters of rope that looks pretty. Big mistake!

New but bad rope fully installed.

Frequent followers of this blog will know that Sato san, he who should be obeyed, was very disparaging, in a Japanese way, about the new rope. It had to be replaced. He kindly gives me a bunch of high quality rope.

Yay! Sato san

I re-rig the boat and it turns out that the throat halyard and peak halyard are too short.  Sato san says he will lengthen them by splicing on new rope. Then came one ultra mega and one normal typhoon. Total confusion. Then came a period of bad weather with heavy rain. Then Sato san went to Yokohama to tune boats up there.

The upshot is that six weeks have passed with little progress. The defining parameter in all this is I go to California for 4 months starting early November. It has become clear that even if I get the boat in the water, I would have to take her out again after a few days to lay her up for my absence.

I wish I had used the original rigging. The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Comfort food

This one has several soft boiled eggs.

I pay my mooring fees.

My friends start their gardening year by planting potatoes