Straight Up

They look even better installed. Old set is on the left.

 I've been wanting new standing rigging. This was triggered by a post made to a photo I posted over on the Wooden Boat Forum from 1st Annual Messabout. Rich Jones posted "Thanks for the report. It's always great when WB friends can get together. From the photo, your Lido 14 seems to have an extreme forward rake to the mast. Is that part of the design or just a weird camera angle?" I mumbled something about the loose rig and got to thinking. So I wandered outside and measured my forestay. The forestay of a classic Lido 14 should measure 14' 3 1/2" long. Mine came to just over 13'. Now I know there was a mast incident somewhere in Esmerelda's past, as the cracking around the mast base and shroud clearly that evidence. And now I could see it may have had farther reaching impact. My guess is the deck end of the forestay failed, and instead of getting a new stay, it was simply shortened and a new eye put on. That would explain the missing foot of cable.
 I also know it's affecting her sailing with that rake. I'm not quite sure how but she's far from being optimized for cruising. So the first step seemed to be new shrouds and forestay. It just happened a bit quicker then I was planning.
 John over at Doublewave has been a wealth of information on my boat. A former president of the Lido Association and a class champion he has been nothing but gracious with his knowledge and time.  So I mentioned I was looking for a forestay and some shrouds. And two weeks later I got a notification that they were on the way.
 Now one thing that is never talked about in Lido circles from what I can gather is how to cruise a Lido. All I know is you need a tight rig and the mast should be vertical. So that was my game plan. And it worked out.
 The Doublewave system was designed for a shroud adjuster, not the turnbuckle I had been using. And with a vertical mast doing it alone presented some challenges. But being that I had all afternoon and just couldn't wait to see if it all worked out, I got to work.
 The first thing I did was to see where I needed to fit the side stays. These it should be noted came with shroud protectors and I'm glad for that. My old stays were worn from deck contact and I am pleased to lessen that with the new ones. I found quite quickly that I was about halfway down the adjusters to get the mast straight up. I'd put the pins down a hole and raise the mast. Then repeat. Finally I had the side stays set up. On to the pointy end!
 This proved a bit more challenging. With the mast raked forward I could count on it staying put as I clamored around getting it attached. But with the new position there was no room for error. Now most Lido's sail with a crew of two which would have made this whole procedure much easier. But that was not an option so I had to create a crew. Did you know you can use your trailer winch to hold the mast up while you tension the forestay? And if  you rig your lines right it'll be a 2:1 advantage as you do so? Now I don't recommend this for all users and those on the truth path my scoff but it works and that's what my sailing is all about.
 And there it was. A mast that stood ~90 degrees to the deck, taut and ready to cruise. I was most pleased. I wonder how long it had been since the mast had this much freedom of movement aft.

Straight up

 Although the light was failing I had one more thing to do and that was to set the tiller tamer for quick release. I found during the last cruise that the "Tie the excess in a bow and hope" did not work well. The tamer limits the accessibility of the motor while underway and getting the tension right instantly can be tough.
 The answer was simple. I took the ball off a ball bungee and with  knot secured it to the end of the shock cord I use for the tiller tamer. I then enlarged the hole on the other side, put half of the bungee through and knotted it. It's now a simple matter of putting the ball through the hole and it's ready to go.

I have a sailing weekend coming up and am eager to try out all of these improvements. Just another step in sailing inland seas.