This week has been a busy week of getting the boats ready for the winter.  Along with the normal things we do every year like take all the food off and give away what will not keep until next year, take all the mattresses, deck boxes, dories, life jackets etc off the boat, unlash all the sails and remove them and the booms/gaffs, and clean the boat really really well, this year we took a couple extra things off.  Those couple extra things weighing upwards of 5 tonnes…

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the barge Pacific Grace.

That’s right.  The Grace no longer has any masts.  It looks fairly strange to see her completely mast-less.  On Tuesday, the main came out.  It took the crane 14 tonnes of force to lift it out of its hole.  Today, the fore came out and it took 9 tonnes of force.  It is the strangest thing to see these mammoth sticks dangling in the air above the boat.  

When laid out in the lot, they take nearly the entire length of the parking area.  

We had some interesting maneuvering with two fork-lifts to get them out of the parking lot, around the corner into shop.  

In the shop, the main takes up over 3/4 of the length of it.  Tomorrow will be strange when we go for fuel under the Johnson St Bridge without having to raise it up.

Incidentally, tomorrow is also my last day working for SALTS.  Its been a fantastic last two years full of great relationships and wonderful experiences.  I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  At the same time, I’m looking forward to some rest.  While I will be out pounding the pavement looking for a new job first thing Monday morning (well, maybe not first thing!), I anticipate some well-deserved break time.  You can pray for me as I’m looking for work.  I think I’ve gotten a little picky, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it means I have to be careful not to turn my nose up at perfectly good jobs.