Mods & Upgrades

As I mentioned previously, we left the marina in Titusville at the end of April and travelled to Jensen Beach with a couple of stops along the way.  We've been staying at the Jensen Beach Mooring Field which is located on the south side of the Jensen Beach causeway.  The facility is brand new and very nice.  It's especially convenient since there are restaurants and a Publix within walking distance. 

We were awakened one night to the sound of something rhythmically hitting the side of the hull and got up to investigate.  We were rewarded with a spectacular view of launch from Cape Canaveral. This photo doesn't do it justice because of the time it took to go below to get my phone but, trust me, it was amazing.  

Another photo taken as I woke up.  This was the view from our bed one morning.  

Again, so beautiful that I had to get up to capture it. 

Our reason for coming to Jensen Beach to get one of the big things done that will make the sailing life much easier going forward:  getting our mast shortened.  Our mast height was 67 feet but all of the fixed bridges in the Intracoastal Waterway have only 65 feet of clearance.  This really limited our options in case of rough weather offshore and also the number of marinas, moorings and anchorages that we have access to.  For catamarans, this is an especially big problem since most marinas and boatyards are not set up to accommodate a 24 foot beam (width of the boat), even if they can handle very long vessels.  

Stepping the mast (taking it down) required that we disconnect all of the wiring that runs inside the mast.  It turns out that it a lot!  There's VHF radio, cell phone antenna, radar, mast light, running lights, spot light, loudspeaker...you get the gist.  Anyway, it was a very valuable exercise since we now know where all the wires are routed (since Starry Night didn't come with a wiring diagram) and everything is now fixed and neatly labeled.  :-)

One of the crew from Mack Sails, who did the work, 

had to be lifted in a bosuns chair (harness) to attach

the crane to the mast.  Better him than me!!

The mast was then gently guided to a truck with a very long trailer. It was a pretty interesting process to watch.  Piece by piece we are learning about Starry Night, inside and out.