Titusville - Rigging inspection

To the top! I sometimes wonder about being asked to go up a mast on a boat that's had
no rigging inspection for many years - what if the rigging picked that
 a particular time to fail?

There was a rigger int he area and Fleetwing's rigging had not been inspected since its launch in 2004 so I thought it would be a good idea to have it done. His arrangement for going up the mast was a three to one pully with a very thick rope tied off to two halyards. Having attachments to both halyards provided the redundancy. I noticed he didn't use the shackles on the halyards, he tied his rope directly to the rope above the shackles. I guess that takes out the possibility of a shackle failing.

All fittings got the "Hastings Triplet" inspection

His arrangement was easy for him to use. He went up the mast by just pulling on his rope and with the mechanical advantage, he made it look easy. While he was up there, I had him replace the 12-year-old anchor light with a new one and also the deck light which had disintegrated over the years.

"Bridge, calling the bridge......"

Once on top, he also found the VHF antenna in very bad shape. In fact, it's doubtful whether it was working at all. There was nothing left of the body and it was barely attached. I just ordered a new one which he'll install next week. Another causality was the Windex which lost a battle with hail a few years back but still, sort of, worked. It was time for that to be replaced too.

Most importantly, the rigging was fine. He inspected all fittings and found them to be in good shape. That was a great relief since it was the first inspection in 15 years. It's true than Fleetwing has not been used for ocean crossings or even to the Bahamas but it is still good to know that the rigging is okay.