Listening to the iPod and filling holes...

I'm currently in the process of losing all of the deck hardware involved in bringing the halyards and reefing lines back to the cockpit...

Which means I have a lot of holes to fill and as filling holes is something of a time consuming though brainless job I have ample time to listen to my iPod and wonder at how much all of this gear I'm taking off the boat cost... Jeez!

Bringing the reefing back to the cockpit is an idea, that while appealing on many levels, can be somewhat problematic when confronted with real world use. Over the last few years I have lost track of the number of times I've had to go to the mast to free a line, untangle something, or sort out other mayhem during a squall and I'd hazard a guess that, if I had kept track, that my visits to the foredeck with lines led aft in heavy weather were about the same as when none of the lines were led aft.

The big difference though is that if you expect to go to the mast on a regular basis you are prepared to go to the mast. On the other hand, if you don't expect to leave your cockpit... Well, shit does happen!

So, at least for my style of sailing, going back to simple make sense.

The bright side of all of this is that I'll have a lot of line organizers and suchlike to pimp at the next nautical flea market I find myself at and, with any luck, might even pay for all of the epoxy and fillers that the hole filling consumes. I can live with that.

What would be even better (I'm guessing) is one of those holes has also been causing an apparently untraceable leak in our deck that has had me jumping through hoops for months...

Listening to the Bonzo Dog Band...

So it goes...