Mike, When you get the ballooner halyard out of the mast , you might change it to vectran with a snap shackle on it. I spoke to olivier tears ago and he said that the existing halyard is not strong

Thanks for you observations, Bill. I would hope that Amel would have secured the electrical conduit against the inside wall of the mast and therefore vertical wrap not possible. Not sure how that

Mike, Now, I completely understand what you did. Could it be that the halyard is wrapped vertically around either another halyard or the wire conduit? That halyard would have sprung like a snapped

Bill, We lowered a messenger down the mast no problem to the point where the halyard leaves the mast at the bottom. Pulled it out and secured it to the bottom part of the halyard and then pulled it

Mike, It does sound like the broken haylard has taken a wrap around something inside the mast. I am guessing that you have applied a bit of force and found that it is not moving, so a straight

This is very interesting, but: Richard, How do you know what you will hook using a fishing hook inside the mast? What do you do if you hook the wrong thing? It is hooked! Mike, How were you able

Hi if you have a good size fish hook fish it out using very heavy line or a very strong leader attached to a 1/4 line set the hook and boat the halyard. Good luck. Fair Winds Smooth Sailing To

During a storm at night I furled the jib not having earlier in the day noticed that a crewmember had secured the ballooner halyard without retrieving the dehooker, leaving the halyard in place on the

Hi Bob and Suzanne. I have SM 243. A Rocna 40 fits perfectly on her. Before buying I made a mock up out of cardboard to make sure it fit. Kent SM243 Kristy

John, Which part of Australia? I hope to be out your way in about 5-6 years if all goes well. Yes, I agree, it is a shame that such an important gateway to the Med. is so risky. I thought

We are a Redline 2004 Super Maramu hull #429. Before I drag a 40KG Rocna over from our local East Marine I'd like to know if there are any fit problems on these on the Millennium/2000 (as in any

James, My Maramu is in Australia. It's such a shame it's so hard to get up the Red Sea these days otherwise that is where we would be heading to the Med. I did it in 1995 and 1998 when it was

John, Where is your Maramu now? It sounds like you really had a great time cruising the Med. I never realized just how large of a body of water it encompasses, I can imagine being able to spend

JPG, I took a look at some of the photos around Carlo Forte and they are amazing. Perhaps we can make it there this summer. Thanks for the suggestion of a safe in the water location to store the

I love that area. I have fantastic memories of Ustica and the Aeolian Islands. I wish my Maramu was in Sardinia! As a way to head west I've done the trip twice up the Red Sea as far as UK. Once

Greetings James, We are headed to Sardinia after a stay in the Egadi islands (Favignana). We’ll head to the SW of Sardinia and begin at Carlo Forte.. apparently one of the most beautiful spots in

JPG, You have certainly done some amazing flying..and landings! You must have made some good judgement calls to still be here. I used to fly sailplanes cross country and sometimes would end up in

Well done James, At one time in my career, I flew Twin Otters on Super Floatation tires. (The main wheels were shod with DC3 tires inflated to 4 PSI… tubes installed …the hubs were drilled and

JPG, One of my dreams has been to fly an STOL across the back country of Canada as a group. Landing on river banks and camping along the way. There are numerous videos on you tube of others doing

Pretty cool… once landed a Twin Otter across a 200 foot wide runway and managed to only use one half of the width… the wind was blowing a steady 50 knots across the runway. On the other hand, I