[Rhodes22-list] July 4th light show and damn spiders...

[John Lock]

4th of July on Lake Sinclair in GA yielded the best sailing weather 
we've had all year.  Wind was a steady 10kts from the east, which is 
across the channel in our orientation.  I could sail north or south 
at around 5kts without tacking for miles.

I bought some 12vdc rope light and cut 30-foot lengths to string up 
from the mast at night.  One string was tied to the stern rail and 
the other on the bow pulpit.  We motored around and watched the 
fireworks shows around the lake, looking like some huge glowing 
triangle.  It must have been quite a sight from shore.  If I find any 
pix, I'll post them.

Now for the problem... as I mentioned the wind was fairly steady from 
the east, but my masthead fly refused to point east!  I watched it 
for a while and it was clearly moving, so I knew it wasn't stuck in 
place.  I was convinced the winds at the surface must be blowing in a 
different direction than at mast height.  Not likely, but that's what 
the evidence supported.

As the sun set, the light hit the masthead just right and I spotted 
the problem.  A spider has built a web from the VHF antenna down to 
the wind vane!  It was securely trapped into pointing within about 90 
degrees of dead-astern.  The wind could blow it around a little 
before the web stretched tight and stopped it going further.

So now the masthead fly is pretty useless.  That spider is camped out 
up there and I can't figure out how to get rid of it or even clear 
the web.  Tried to spray it down with a hose, but the water pressure 
won't reach that high.

Anybody got a bright idea on how to clear it?  Do I need to haul 
myself up there and clear it by hand?  Speaking of which, has anyone 
used a bosun's chair on the Rhodes?  Is that practical for a 165lb 
person?  Will my wife have heart failure if I try it (rhetorical 
question, I already know the answer)?

Cheers!

John Lock
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s/v Pandion - '79 Rhodes 22
Lake Sinclair, GA
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