This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by @marc-allaria: RECIT : LA LONGUE GALERE - Episode #5...!

^{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.

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The long mishap - Part 5

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My situation is starting to get talked about. Returning to the boat, I am then stopped by a village worker who asks me to follow him 20m further. He takes me to a vacant lot at the edge of the road and clears the tall grass. Then we discover an old aluminum mast, broken and in bad condition of course, but of oval section ... I must have passed in front of this mast dozens of times without ever seeing it ... This mast is of section slightly higher than the one I am looking for . But it is composed of an association of two half-shells riveted on their length. It would be very easy to separate the hulls to reduce the section and then rewound them. The project manager is OK to do that. It remains to negotiate the sale price of this old mast. It is then that all the splendor of Balinese spirituality returns at a gallop. The "manager" of this mast asks for 7000 €. I think I dream! Double the price of a new mast bought in Australia. Taxis, merchants, guides, here, no one is afraid to multiply their prices by two, five, or ten in front of a foreign customer. This makes the island unbearable. Such a broken mast, without equipment and damaged like this one, would see its owner very happy to be able to leave it for a few hundred Euros on any site of the planet. However here, competition does not exist in this area, and taking advantage of the helplessness of others definitely poses no problem of conscience. After ten days of negotiations, meetings and SMS, the last price will be set at 1300 € for half of the mast. This price is still greatly exaggerated. However here, these few months spent in Bali will have at least had the advantage of reminding me how happy I was in the islands with the fish and the villagers far from the behavior of greedy people. My freedom is at this price. If all goes well, in a few months this sum would seem low, and I would have quickly forgotten that ignoble profiteer that I want to drown today. I do not have a choice, either that or Aurora will not leave. I swallow my pride and work can finally begin after 2 months of research.

![]

The first step consists of cutting two meters of section and separating the half-shells. A strip of five millimeters in length is removed at each end of the hulls which are then reassembled and welded by the only patented aluminum welder on the island. The result is a sleeve of two meters in length and section that fits very well inside the mast of Aurora.

The last big worry comes from the broken down area of the mast. During the accident, the mast section sank in for more than a centimeter. It must be straightened to fit the sleeve. In case of failure, it would be necessary to cut the damaged part. This would mean shortening the mast, and thus changing the guying and resizing the sails ... Fortunately the skilled hands of a local craftsman do the work and allow him to adjust the sleeve in the first half mast.

The two half masts are then transported to the aluminum welding site opposite the city. They are nested around the sleeve, welded and riveted. The reeded mast is 16m in length, so it cannot be transported by truck. It's illegal. The operation will take place at night to avoid the police. The presence of foreigners will be avoided so that in case of arrest, the police are not encouraged to ask for a "tariff of passage" too high ...

(to be continued)

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01: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: Funny situations ...! at sea..., by @marc-allaria
02: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: The fishing file ...!, by @marc-allaria
03: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: The Cagayan Islands, by @marc-allaria
04: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: Seaweed...!, by @marc-allaria
05: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: The Bacuit Archipelago, by @marc-allaria
06: BORNEO: Kudat and the technical stop, by @marc-allaria
07: BORNEO: Kinabatangan River, by @marc-allaria
08: BORNEO: Maratua, part 1, by @marc-allaria
09: BORNEO: Big Fish School, by @marc-allaria
10: BORNEO: Diving in Maratua ...!, by @marc-allaria
11: BORNEO: The jellyfish lake ...!, by @marc-allaria
12: SULAWESI: Sewia...!, by @marc-allaria
13: SULAWESI: Story of a dive at Pasoso Island...!, by @marc-allaria
14: SULAWESI: Tanjun Kai...!, by @marc-allaria
15: SULAWESI: Kopoposang...!, by @marc-allaria
16: SULAWESI: PA-RA-SI-TE...!, by @marc-allaria
17: SULAWESI: BIRA...!, by @marc-allariaThe long mishap - Part 1
18: SULAWESI: Diving under my house ...!
19: SULAWESI: Stright ahead ...!, by @marc-allaria
20: The long mishap - Part 1, by @marc-allaria
21: The long mishap - Part 2, by @marc-allaria
22: The long mishap - Part 3, by @marc-allaria
23: The long mishap - Part 4, by @marc-allaria