The owner of Doryen, a Cape Dory 27, scheduled a haulout for December 21st, as well as a crane for the mast removal. By 9:30 in the morning we were moving around the deck of Doryen prepping turnbuckles for their removal. The crane had secured the mast just under the spreaders - we would soon learn that the optimal strapping position would be just above the spreaders to achieve balance. We secured a line to the masthead as well as the base of the mast - guide lines to help in managing the twist and seesawing motion. With the guide lines set, we finalized removal of the head and back stay, as well as the lowers and uppers. The owner was on deck, while I headed down to control the mast head. With a bit of momentary panic, we quickly responded to the motion of the unbalanced mast, steadying the rig while the crane operator slowly lowered the mast onto blocking. It was over fairly quickly, and we got onto storing the mast just near the boat. Now that the mast was safely removed, I could turn my attention to the removal of the mild steel "knees" and replace with G-10 and laminations of 1708 biaxial cloth. More to come...