Going up the mast - advice needed

[jbondy]

You mentioned not being able to get a grip on the line to help pull yourself up. I haul a fellow memer of our club up the mast whenever I need masthead work done. There's very little grinding of winch going on, mostly tailing. From standing on the boom, he's able to reach out and grab onto the lower shrouds. Since they angle out toward the bottom, he's able to get a good grip to help pull himself up, feet on the mast. When he reaches the spreaders, I have to pull him up the next couple of feet. Once on the spreaders, he can reach the upper shrouds and we repeat the process. I have to work pretty fast to keep both the primary and safety lines tailed, but it goes rather fast. At the top, I have to winch him up the last couple of feet.

[CLucas]

There's lots of info on this board on going aloft. You also might want to try a search here for Mastmate -- a nylon webbing mast ladder that allows you to go aloft without someone winching you up or tailing the line. I bought one earlier this year and it made going aloft quite easy. There are a lot of TopClimber fans here as well, plus people who will recommend assembling your own solution using climbing gear. For me, the Mastmate was the most straightforward -- just like climbing a ladder (albeit on a boat). Mastmate's web site is at MastMate.com.

[EO32]

Originally Posted by bubb2

I will defer to the Pro's on the buntline hitch.

The buntline hitch is my favorite knot. I use to always tie bowlines and now, unless I need a loop, I always tie a buntline.

As the "knot" book says "This knot will not come undone". It takes a little practice to do, but I think it is easier to learn than a bowline.

It's great for halyards, outhauls, attaching shock cord and lines attached to fenders. It's a little hard to untie so I don't use it for temp ties.

Chris

[Quickstep192]

Thanks all. It makes alot of sense about not using the shackle. If the shackle goes, it's going to go all at once not leaving the person aloft any time to react. Using the jib halyard as a safety makes sense too. My boat is small and the mast relatively short (28'), so I'm only likely top be mamed, not killed; mamed might be worse.

[sailingdog]

I'm not a big fan of the buntline hitch, since it can be very difficult to untie. It is good for halyard to shackle connections, since the knot is fairly compact and doesn't come undone. However, I think a bowline is better for connecting the bosun's chair to the halyard.

If your halyards aren't long enough to lead back to your genoa sheet winches, use a sheet bend or other knot to add a tail that will let you get the hoisting line at least that far back. The safety line doesn't have to necessarily go back to a genny winch.

You can also use a halyard that is tied off as a safety line if you have a jumar or ascender clipped onto it.

[SCoffshore]

hook the tail end of the halyard to the Shamrock and let someone else pull you up the mast using the other boat. Actually, first off make sure your bosun chair isn't one of the ones that has been recalled by Taylor made. If you want to help "pull" yourself up the mast with your hands, use another halyard to pull up a thicker strand of 3-strand and pretend you are in gym class again. You can also use three Prusik Knots and climb the halyard itself. Put the bosun's chair tied onto one, and then tie two more, one for each foot. Climb up the halyard by alternating pressure on each knot and moving the loose one up the halyard.
The Prusik Knot or Triple Sliding Hitch

[janders]

My understanding (and of course I haven't gone up our mast yet) is like so:

If using a halyard, tie it to the bosuns chair using a figure eight loopback (the knot climbers use to tie onto a rope) and then take the tail with the shackle and attach the shackle to the chair as well. That prevents the tail from snaking back through the knot.

When I go up the mast, I'll also use a safety line but it will be tied on to my climbing harness. I don't want the bosuns chair to be the single point of failure.

[SteveInMD]

I use a snatch block at the base of the mast and one at the bow so I can use the windlass to go up. I also use a safety line to a standard winch. Is this a bad idea?

[HALCYON]

You have some excelent advice here. I like the ATN climbing harness myself. ( I often have trust issues)

[knuterikt]

janders;
That should be a safe way to do this, you should also be confident that your mast equipment is of good standard. No use taking your precations if the halyard or blocks are in a bad state. It is safer to use a halyard led inside the mast if possible.

SteveInMD;
The only problem with using the windlass in the bow is that you would either need to have two crew on deck to handle both halyards (as you will like the slack on the safety line to be taken in on your way up - similar ting when going down)

I use my genoa winch for lifting the bosuns chair, to do this i'm using to snatch blocks to get the halyard led to the winch. One on the mast at about goosneck hight, the other one attached to the rail to get a good lead to the winch. The safty line goes to the halyard winch.

I also have comment to the use of snapschacles for the bosuns chair..
A friend of mine who is quite new to sailing told me about an incident he had this summer.
The main Halyard was gone to the top of the mast, he has a fractional rigged boat - so the only available halyard available to go to the top was the spinnaker halyard. He clipped the halyard on to the bosuns chair an had his girlfriend hoist him with the electric primary winch.
He got to the top and retrieved the hallyard (he only pulled the rope out of the mast so the shackle was hanging a bit above the upper spreader.

On the way down the snapshackle released and suddenly he was sitting on the upper spreaders. He was lucky as he only glided along the mast a couple of meters before his stopped.

He was able to tie on to the newly retrieved main hallyard and instruct his GF to put the main halyard on the winch to lift him up so he could retrieve the spinnaker halyard.

Lessons learnt:
-Put in a rope in the topping lift sheave that can double as a reserve main halyard and safety line when using the bosuns chair.
-Never trust the snapscackle when using a bosuns char
-Use a safety rope, the genoa halyard would be better than nothing even if its not going to the top.

Knut