The Golden Rasta

One of the legends surrounding wooden masts is that of the Golden Rasta.  A creature so called because his tangled locks grow from the shavings of Sitka spruce masts.  It is most auspicious if he pays a visit.  One can be sure of a mast that will remain straight and strong for many years if it first receives his blessing along with a glance of his beloved plane.

With our mast being nearly 60' in length we were hopeful that he might pay us a visit; he is particularly keen on tall masts as he is able to take long shavings from them for his locks.  He's also pretty keen on Caribbean rum.  Fortunately so are we, so every night when we packed up we left a little glass of Flor de cana under the mast in the hope we would tempt him from his hideaway.

Of course wooden mast building is not quite as prevalent as it once was. Indeed it might even be true that more wooden masts are neglected and ultimately perish to rot than are built nowadays.  I tell you this as, according to the legend, sadly each time a wooden mast is destroyed the Golden Rasta loses one of his precious locks. And who can imagine the Golden Rasta with a bald patch.

Well I'm sure you will be delighted to hear that we caught a glimpse of this not so mythical creature this morning.  We were quick enough to snap a few shots of him, plane in hand, before he scurried away with his new lock.

So now the Golden Rasta has been we are all but ready to move on to the final stage of mast building; varnishing.  We might even expect a visit from the Three headed Varnish Dragon of Sitka. So called because one head blows on a blend of uv absorbers in a blend of aromatic oils, the other a aliphatic isocyanate, whilst the third dries it with his flames, enabling them to get all 10 coats on in a day.  It really is the holy grail of varnish and would last years.  But personally, I don't believe such a varnish exists!



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