Everytime we visit the Southern Ocean, we prepare Europa by downrigging
the upper square sails of the main- and foremast, the skysails. 

Not only the sails and yard are lowered down to deck, but also the section of mast they are flying from. The skysails are sails for lighter conditions and although we still get light winds, the stronger winds can be quite a lot stronger and more frequent than we normally see. The main reason to take them down is to lower windage aloft, caused by a part of the rig that we wouldn't be using a lot anyway. The masts and yards are then brought back up when we're about to leave the Roaring Forties on our way to Tristan da Cunha. The picture shows Elliot and Isabel in a casual pose while working on re-rigging the main skysail.