The long mishap - Part 6 and end, by @marc-allaria (translated from French)

vcelier (74)in #story • 6 years ago

This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by @marc-allaria: RECIT : LA LONGUE GALERE - Episode #6 et fin...!

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Marc Allaria (@marc-allaria), a French guy.

The long mishap - Part 6 and end

The night welding operation goes smoothly and the mast is now placed on the dock of the port of Benoa. Reassembly can begin. Two days will be needed to protect the rivets from corrosion, repaint, and reinstall halyards, electrical cables, radar, wind vane, and guying.

Anticorrosion treatment

Painting of the mast

On the third day an old Isuzu, a copy of an old Dodge of the war and re-equipped with a crane, comes to be placed for the last stage of the works. I knew a few moments when I almost became a believer, this one must be part of it, I think ...! The crane is limited in its rotation. The mast is lifted and rested on the ground several times to allow the truck to reposition itself.

A delicate operation

The Aurora mast is originally placed on the keel, so it must be perfectly vertical to cross the deck and enter the cabin to its pit. But the arm of the truck is a bit short. The mast arrives most of the time too inclined, it does not pass, the boat moves enormously under the maneuver. It will take two hours of battle and some scratches to make it find his place, on top of the small silver coin left by the former owner. Tradition! Aurora is rigged again! Yiaooooooouuuuuuu!

Aurora is ready to leave again!

"It's part of the trip ..." is usually the phrase of consolation sent by friends to help me relativize my little misfortunes. Seen from the inside, these four months were a real psychological ordeal where an ideal of life was remembered that simple chainplate screws could at any time question it. Aurora is now ready to flee Bali, in time to let the last depression disappear and the trade winds to settle. The Indian Ocean is now at the bow of the most beautiful boat. Coco Keelings, Chagos, Madagascar and Mayotte are the road of a freedom finally found, and will quickly make me forget these four months of galley which, I am sure, are already part the trip!

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