My inaugural Sock Burning was today, the first day of spring 2009.

Good bye socks, Hello spring!!

just finished experimenting with a new way to step the mast. The “J-world Technique”.

Basically, it’s a 460cm (~15ft) 2 piece carbon windsurf mast with a sheave in the tip and a rubber padded bottom end and line for six stays. This ‘lifting mast’ sits nicely on the deck step next to the mast step. The downhaul line on the windsurf mast extension can tie off to the mast step to prevent it from going anywhere.

I initially thought I could get away with just 3 cap stays but the windsurf mast was too flexible so I rigged up 3 more lower stays and that did the trick.

I like it a lot! It’s very easy to set up and I can raise and lower the mast with complete control all by myself. Also, the 2pc. windsurf mast is portable enough to have on board.