Finisterra becoming ours

We have owned Finisterra now for over 5 months, and she is slowly transforming into our boat.  We traded the in-mast furling for a new mast with a classic main, added a larger Rocna anchor, and reviewed the various items which need updating.  Such as: autopilot, instruments, storage, windlass, SSB, canvas, solar panels, dinghy...  After looking at our fine print, two page list, it appears we may not complete it.  But, we'll give it a go.  Our older dinghy was sold in 2 days on Craigslist, and now we're hunting for a RIB replacement.  The fiberglass bottom should hold up to coral reefs better than an air floor.   The boat also has an older spinnaker in a sock which we flew earlier this fall, really nice to have. I guess it's a little large for our purposes, so we may add a smaller one to the sail inventory.  We also added a stack pack and track for the main sail which makes it quite easily doused in windy conditions. 
  On the happier side, we did manage to sail to the Isthmus awhile back, with excellent wind, sun and lovely weather overall.  On the return trip we ran into a fog bank which lasted the entire trip, allowing us to learn about the radar, and how wonderful it is to have!  We played with the various blips on the screen by searching them out to find out exactly what we were looking at.  Good to know that sailboats put out a small one, freighters a large one, and the blips are reliable.  On Honcho we managed without radar, and thankfully lived to tell about it.  On our future travels it will be nice to have some fore-knowledge of what's ahead, or behind. 



Finisterra pre-new mast at Emerald Bay.

   I've been kept busy with sanding and sealing the teak toe rails, and learning how to cycle the water maker so it stays fresh.  As Leif is so busy with the heavy lifting jobs, it's the least I can do to learn the basics of some of the systems on the boat.  I'm also head boat washer and stainless cleaner. 



The new stack pack being measured and installed.