While we were in Fiji a friend discovered rot in the mainmast. There was nothing for it, we had to take it down and have it repaired. After researching our options, we hired a single-hander, brought the mast ashore and set it up on sawhorses next to the Tradewinds hotel parking lot.
Craig noticed that a scrimshander, Miles Cortner, was making pendants out of ivory discs, etching them with a likeness of the skipper's boat, and selling them for $60. Craig visited Miles for one afternoon; went into Suva and bought some used dental tools and a couple of whales' teeth from which he sliced discs. He practiced a little, then went into business, selling his pendants for $30. As usual, he did well, financially, although he may have lost Miles (temporarily) as a friend.
We were a curiosity to kids, especially in the outer Fijian islands. No matter how far out from the village we anchored, we could count on being visited by children hungry for tasty treats, and curious as to how we lived.
Months later, having left Fiji for the long voyage home, we found rot in our mizzen mast. We were about 600 miles east of Samoa and reluctant to give up all that easting. So with the help of some fellow cruisers, we rigged the gaff as a crane and lifted our keel-stepped mast up and laid it down on the deck.
There are few more sinking feelings in the stomach's pit than one feels when sawing up his or her mast. But we'd figured it out, and knew that we could shorten the mast a foot, at least, thereby passing most of the rot. Thanks to deadeyes and lanyards, there was no problem with the shrouds as long as we limited how much we sawed off.
I carefully shaped the mast tip to receive the bronze cranston iron that held the top ends of the shrouds. There was still a little rot, but more than enough wood to keep the mast strong for our voyage home.
Here's how she looked with the repaired mast re-stepped. Note the white tip is gone. And if you look closely, you can see that the interval between the mizzen shroud deadeyes has shrunk about a foot.
