So, at last, the day came when the mast would be refitted. There were a couple of other boat movements to go through the lifting dock, but our call came surprisingly promptly. We retraced our previous path from the side of the jetty that we are moored, around the end and then to the lifting dock. It seemed like a mammoth voyage of at least 300 metres.
The mast had already been positioned and so as soon as the boat was secured, the process of lifting it began. It is not an easy proposition, lifting a 24 metre pole, without either end touching the ground. A long strop is positioned below the top two sets of spreaders and secured against slippage. The length of this is just longer than the remaining height of the mast, so that the cranes hook, when attached to the strop, is just above the top of the mast. The lift begins, and the lower end is attached to a forklift truck, also by a strop As the crane lifts the top, the forklift ensures that the base is just above the ground, by slowly moving forward. Eventually, the whole mast is suspended vertically and can then be swung over to the boat, where it is gently guided into the hole in the deck. The various shrouds are then attached to the side decks and fore and aft so that the mast is stabilised in place. This is a long and laborious process, during which we wisely headed off to lunch.
With the mast secured, the crane can lift the boom into position for it also to be attached. Equinox now looks like a proper sailing boat again.
The next steps are to seal the gap in the deck around the mast with a resin, which takes 24+ hours to set, during which the boat should not move at all. By late afternoon the wind had got up sufficiently to delay the start of this, and it was eventually decided to postpone this until Saturday, when the wind would be minimal. In fact the wind was strong enough to dissuade us from even moving the boat from the lifting dock, and so that would be the first priority on Saturday morning. We were up bright and early on Saturday and had the boat move done before 8:30.
Given that it had been a trip for Chris with no sailing, we had decided to have a couple of days away from the boat, and visit Naples. This was a three hour coach journey away, but we were in good time to be on the bus.
Chris has visited Naples before and speaks very warmly of its bonkers charm, and this was evident from the moment we arrived. The bus across the city to our accommodation had a malfunctioning ticket machine, so folks were not able to pay on board as they had expected. Those without tickets (not us) were met by a ticket inspector who told them that they had to get off the bus. There were no fines issued and no aggravation, but the various ticketless groups duly had to get off at the next stop.
We were able to wander the streets of the old town and visited the Monumental Complex of St Chiara, and the Duomo. The former was a Franciscan church, monastery and convent, initiated in 1310. The cloisters which most of these pictures are of, are a beautiful and serene space, plants in the inner areas and tiled columns and walls, plus various frescos. Truly a place to contemplate the higher meaning of life.
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| The Duomo |
Following this we had a tour of underground Naples, visiting the aqueducts and cisterns started by the Greeks and then enlarged by the Romans.
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| We were made aware of Roman anti earthquake designs, with bricks of different shapes and orientations. |
This is the most football obsessed place that I have ever been. The personality cult of Maradonna is literally everywhere. Every street has vendors selling merchandise and there are banners strung over the streets. I believe that Naples is a city which had been starved of success on the football field for a very long time, but the Argentine made the city his home, and helped the team to win the Italian league. The city have taken him to their hearts and deified him.
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| They are clearly not partial to Juve |
Steve ( and Tricia and Chris)
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