beryl george wrote:

From other members of the news group thoughts and
experience am I missing something or is this something
that can be carried out providing there is care with
a reasonable degree of ease and safety.

The plan is to block of the foot of the keel and
secure ropes from the top of the mast out to the
sides at about 45 degrees to hold the boat upright
so the support pads on the wintering cradle can be
lowered

Well, provided you have something very secure to anchor the far end of
the ropes to, that would work fine.

But you could shortcut the procedure and not take up nearly so much room
by using some "legs" which could be simple stout poles, or something a
bit more complex, secured to the boat's chainplates. That's what holds
the mast up, so you'd be using the same part of the hull which is built
ver very strongly... but you'd be saving all the stress on the rig.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King