I forgot the best part about the boat trip!

As we were pulling back into harbor, I expressed my regret that I never got to climb the thing. There was a little ladder going part way up the...the big tall thing in the middle that the mainsail hangs off. You know, the thingy.

It was weird because the bottom two rungs were attached to Wire Cord Thingy A and some other thing, while the remainder of the steps were angled somewhat differently and attached to Wire Cord Thingy A and Wire Cord Thingy B. The rungs were these small angular strips of wood.

At any rate, Brunnen-G said, "Well, it's calm now," and directed me to go for it. So I did.

There is a sensor on the ladder that detects the presence of a person. When a person is standing on the ladder, it QUIVERS VIOLENTLY. Even just standing still, I couldn't stop the wire cords from vibrating back and forth very quickly. Leen and Dave let out these nerve-wracked groans.

So I ascended to the top, very carefully, and it actually got more stable as I went up, but it got more narrow, too, because Wire Cord Thingies A and B were attached to pretty much the same spot on the mast. Anyway, I stood on the top rung, held onto the mast, and looked around. It RULED up there. I had pretty much the exact same view of the ocean, only I was HIGH.

So I came back down, and Leen and Dave were much relieved, and Brunnen-G commented about how now she knew that the ladder was fit enough and didn't have to have its rungs replaced in the course of her on-going overhaul of the boat.