A man is not 60 years old if his heart never admits it to his mind. R.L. Lendvay, 2003 My 37 year old son Mark and I wanted to sail, but the main halyard was still at the top of the mast from the sail I had with Paul Hlavac (a good old friend, but not a sailor). The marina was completely empty of help, so we decided to get the halyard down by ourselves. Mark securely strapped the bosun's chair to his butt and I grabbed my expensive 10" Italian four pound chrome plated Harken winch handle and prepared to do battle with a vertical challenge. Mark only weighs 180 lbs, which is practically nothing to a determined old Great Lakes sailor. Mark was dangerously attached only to one halyard because I couldn't do our usual "two halyards for safety" all by myself. He hopped up on top of the boom and I started to crank. When Mark's shoulders were even with the spreaders, he looked down at the wheezing, gray haired old man cranking the winch and asked "Are you sure you want to do this?" I was positive because I was going sailing, come hell or high water. What Mark was really asking was "Should I let this crazy sailing curmudgeon haul me to the top of the mast, where I might fall 40 or 50 feet, hit the deck and kill myself?" I had to stop and rest my arms and back three or four times, but I cranked Mark to the top of the mast with only a not maintained for 24 years Lewmar 7, where he retrieved the halyard, and I gently allowed him to come down. It reminded this old sailor of the Mount Everest expeditions seen on TV. Damn near killed myself on this one. Be still, my still beating, quad 4 heart! We attached the halyard to the main and went out there to do battle with 10-20K, 2-4', my favorite kind of weather, on my favorite kind of water, the Great Lakes of the gods. BOB LENDVAY Sloop Winter's Dream O'Day 28 1979 Racine WI