I needed to move Little Dragon just over 100 metres from one side of the Big River Sailing Club to the other. The mast was up so I set off at walking pace determined to avoid all obstacles - but I failed miserably.Maybe if there was a sign like the one I later spotted at Amity Point, North Stradbroke the incident would not have happened.
I heard a crash and to my horror saw that the mast had snapped when it hit the power line slung from the main pole to the clubhouse.
The caretaker, Richard, came rushing out to see what had happened and he checked that the power to the clubhouse was still intact - but my mast certainly was not.
I climbed on board pretty shaken and angry at my own ineptitude. I have always known that the side decks on Little Dragon are very narrow and need to be negotiated with extreme care. Not surprisingly I slipped and slithered to the ground catching my ribs on the way down. I had broken my rib.
Richard was the perfect gentleman and ordered me to stay at ground level and he went aloft and efficiently lashed the broken mast so that I could trail the boat home don't forget that we were fleeing the storm (well that is an exaggeration but it felt a bit like that).
I am now wonderering which will take longer to mend - my rib or my boat.
PS 19 November. My rib has mended but the new mast is still "in transit" from Melbourne.
