+351 967 072 879 / + 351 911 737 990 adelaide@belocal.pt

Replacement of the mast on the sailing boat Pede Vento

December 2021
And voila, habemus new mast after several months of waiting and many discussions about the best solution.
 
Many people said that I could have saved the old mast by reinforcing the cracked area with reinforcing plates, with carbon reinforcements, and even by welding. The first question was the cost of these solutions, the second who would do them, and the third, most important, who would assume the guarantees in case the mast fell. The silence said all that needed to be said.
 
Have you ever seen a mast fall? The genoa taking off, with its ribbons perfectly tuned, and us following it with our eyes as it recedes into the air until we see the mast toppling over? Have you seen the whole rigging floating, the sails full of water, the rigging and the reefs all mixed together? It’s complete desolation.
 
It took me months to be able to sail the Santa Maria again, and even today, when a major refight comes in, I look at the mast. It is not forgotten and not forgiven.
 
So my choice was to replace it, I don’t want to be out at sea and look at the mast when the waves are rising and the wind is howling on the cables. Not least because the cost difference is not what you think.
 
This replacement cost 10,200€ already with VAT and I can only imagine what it would cost me to make reinforcement liners in aluminum, to move an 18m mast to a workshop (or the comings and goings of the teams), to have, in the end, only a patched mast.
 
Being a safety fanatic, I want to go to sea with the knowledge that I did everything that needed to be done to ensure it.