Most of the sailboats at our club pull the mast every season. I guess the biggest reason is that we are right on the shore of Lake Erie and are required to store the boats on jackstands, when the winter storms blow through we all feel safer with the masts down. There are usually a few casualties on the bayfront each winter where boats blow over, I have never seen a sailboat blow over that had the mast down.

Besides looking things over, US Spar suggests taking the mast down and starting over with tuning to get it straighter. The upper "diamond stays" are supposed to be tuned on the ground. I have to pick up a Loos gauge for the smaller diameter wire, I can borrow one for the larger wire. The lights on the mast will be getting serviced and the bulbs replaced with LED's so I don't have to worry about them burning out during the summer. The halyards are going to be replaced in the spring and the in-haul for the in-mast furling needs to be replaced which looks to be quite the project based on the instructions.