A Blessing in disguise
Sailing from Sweden, we delivered Vega safe & sound to one of my favourite towns, Harlingen, the Netherlands. The plan was to stay there for four or five days, to load supplies and to do scheduled maintenance.
We began working on some of the planned maintenance jobs, one of which was installing white oak bolsters under the lower shrouds. Here are Pablo and Benji making the wooden bolsters by hand on the dockside.
Part of this task required lifting up all of the lower shrouds about 10cm to be able to slip the bolsters under the shrouds at the cross-trees - no small feat. We completed the task on the foremast and the mainmast (you can see photos of that on the new instagram account @vega.sailcargo). All was going really well, until we reached the mizzen mast.
Then we found this, hidden beneath the shrouds… not something anyone had expected to find, especially not after several independent surveys had been conducted on the ship. We made the decision to do an extremely deep survey of the spars. This survey yielded some undesirable findings, which caused doubt of the safety and integrity of the rigging.
The call was made to bring down the entire rig for inspection.
So we did it, we took the entire rig down in two working days. This would not have been possible without the guidance and support of Richard Tefsen, SAILMASTER. With the support of Richard and Hendrick (and also Max!) our crew safely brought every single spar down.
Our crew worked with cherry-pickers and a 50m tall crane to safely hoist out each and every spar. Myself and Gero had worked for SAILMASTER before, so the team already had clear communication and an understanding of what was ahead.
I often say that Richard Tefsen SAILMASTER was the best employer I’ve ever had. Remembering our work on the new construction of Shabab Oman II, I find many fond memories.
I could not be more grateful to Richard, Hendrick, and my entire crew. Behind the scenes we also organized many of the other logistics, including transport, crew organization, securing a hall, and much more.
I am grateful to many people, especially Alida and Douwe.
The decision was made to replace the bowsprit and likely the mizzen mast. I am thankful that we have several of our Ceiba shipwrights here with us. Here are Julian, Benji, and Logan sitting in the cargo hold of Vega working out the measurements of the bowsprit.
The timber yard, which is full of massive Douglas Fir and Larch, is about a five minute bike ride from where Vega is moored. Really unbelievably lucky. Here are some photos of selecting, milling, and loading a new bowsprit and the new mizzen mast (yep, that’s going to be new too). You will see Julian and Benji in some of these photos, I relied on their expertise, with advice from Richard and the timber yard owner, Nic Faber, to select the best trees for the job.
We are grateful to Nic of Hout Compagnie for getting our timbers milled on such short notice.
Douglas Fir selection.
Benji and Julian checking the timber. This is a Larch, which is being used to make a new bowsprit. Julian is in the Monteverde Brewing Co. shirt.
The mizzen mast blank being loaded onto the truck. This piece is 20m (66’) in length, including a bit of extra on the ends. Julian in the foreground sporting a North Pacific Timber Co. timber.com/ t-shirt.
Then, after bringing the entire rig down in two days, our team moved it all - and the two new timbers - into a hall where all of the inspections and maintenance will be conducted. This hall is even closer to Vega than the timber yard!
All things considered, I am feeling overwhelmingly relieved, supported, and thankful to have caught this issue, and to be in a position with the company to be able to do the right thing for Vega and her crew. Safety first.
This is a major development in our story with Vega, and I couldn’t be happier to have friends at my side who make it all happen. Keep an eye out for more updates as we move forward.
Wishing everyone a lovely day 🤍
Danielle
Originally written on instagram @the.jungle.boat by Danielle Doggett. All photos in this journal entry by D. Doggett.
SAILCARGO INC. Founder & CEO Danielle is currently based in Harlingen, the Netherlands, with Vega.
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