“Afgetuigd” has a double meaning. Anyway the mast is down for the next adventure. It took most of yesterday. There were several maintenance/repair jobs performed after the mast was down. The boom had pulled off the mast on the Atlantic crossing and now I was able to take off the temporary fix of three heavy duty hose clamps and replaced the four 5/16″ machine screws with 3/8″ screws and retapped the threads that had completely corroded. Two wires that lead through the mast to the tricolor/stroble masthead light were replaced. I made up braces to carry the mast the nearly 2000 miles to the Black Sea. I plan leave here on Sunday, via the Amstel, Vegt, Amsterdam-Rhine canal to Wijk bij Duurstede and be ready there for the time that Marinus Hoogendoorn has a freight going up the Rhine. This could take days/weeks. But I have plenty projects to work on while waiting.
The Dutch summer continues to spoil us with warm sunny weather. But daylight is getting noticeably shorter. Tomorrow there will be many goodbyes here in Amsterdam. My teenage years friend Joke Brancart just left. I plan to try and be in Amsterdam for Christmas when the boat is in Turkey.