checking things after fitting and hoisting the new main I noticed a hairline crack in the swivel shackle attached to the base of my block - otherwise like new I had no choice but to buy a new block - the new ones don't have the shackle attached so I then had to buy the shackle - talk about double whammy ! anyway, it's good to have new gear - I presume, like the main, it was 23 years old.