How many sailors does it take to change a light bulb?

So the others in our group have had to do some chores on their boats too while waiting for the weather to turn.  Yesterday Captain Mike needed some help changing a light bulb and on a sailboat that could be more than One to hold the bulb and two to spin the boat.  Yeah, I know it's an old joke, but we're old guys. 

To have a line to climb the mast, we had to lower the forsail and add a 4 to 1 block system to the halyard.  That would make it easier to pull Mike to the top of the mast.  After a lot of talking and line tying, Mike gets into the bosun's chair.

We got to cranking.

Break time, we left Mike hanging.

Actually we switched positions to keep Mike moving upward.  Close to the top and we had to switch lines for a final pull.  Of course this was about the time the plastic tape hit the deck, oh well Mike didn't need it for switching bulbs.




Mike working at getting the lens off and swaping out the bulb.  The mast was swinging in the breeze.

It was cold below and I know Mike could only work so long with cold hands.



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We tried the light and got the high sign from Mike.  Lowering is always a lot faster.

It took a while to warm up afterwords and return the halyards to their former function of holding sails in the furlers.

After dark Mike tested it once more and was pleased he switched to a LED anchor light.