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CHAPTER 7
Installation and
Maintenance
Installation transforms your work from a series of When everything is at last in its place, your atten-
specialized tasks into an integral part of a sailing tion naturally shifts to maintenance. This involves a
entity. When a mast goes in, the boat is changed; it whole new series of tasks, but much more is involved
acquires wholeness, intent, life. You, too, must be than a “you-take-care-of-it, it-takes-care-of-you”
transformed now, in order to take part in this life. philosophy; ideally, distinctions will blur until the
It’s a romantic-seeming notion, but one consistent most painstaking labors become a happy matter of
with the complexity and depth of the relationship course, part of sailing. Writing about this, Joseph
that begins here. Conrad said, “A ship is not a slave. You must make
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