This morning I unclamped my mast blank, only to find that I had not put enough tape into the corner. The blank had adhered to the aluminum angle. Ugh! After some work, I was finally able to pry it off, but in the process had ripped a pretty good sized chunk out of the blank. However, after milling it down, I was able to cut that all off and now have a nice stick to use. I also learned that I should have paid more attention to the bow in each strip, and flipped them alternatively to try to take that out. My mast blank has a slight bow to it. It will be easy for the upper and lower shrouds and spreaders to take care of, but it would have been nice to not have it at all. Aloha!

In my previous boats, I've always used an aluminum mast (and a carbon fiber one on the Tippecanoe T37). For this Vintage Marblehead High Flyer Sun Wind II though, in keeping with the tradition of the 1940's/1950's, I thought it would be fun to attempt a wooden mast. This is my first try! People on the innertubes seem to agree that spruce is the best. So I went to my local lumber yard (NOT a big box place either... but one that knows wood better), and bought two sticks of what they said was spruce. However, once I started milling it, I'm now not totally sure what I bought. I think that it probably is spruce, but after reading online about the differences, it may actually be pine. Even if it is pine, at least one smart guy online says that he prefers it for his mast anyway. So... whatever! I'm calling it spruce. It has some very small knots in it, and is very whitish. The pine I've used in the past has been a bit more yellow. I milled out 8' strips that ...