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Climbing the mast

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BKPC25
1st Mate

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USA
74 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/29/2017 : 16:05:20

I have managed to let the Spinnaker halyard go when dropping the sail.
This might be a silly idea, but I have a 24' extention ladder...of course I would rig it to multiple points, so it wouldn't kick out and climb up. Rerun the line, change bulbs and inspect masthead.
I could hoist myself up (the right way) via the mainsheet with a 3:1 and a Grigri, plus using the jib sheet as a backup.
What do you guys think about the ladder idea, since I will be doing this by myself and I might have to go up and down a few times...

1973 C22 #1803 "Baby Adalynne"
(1979 C25 #1389 "Adalynne")
Instagram: #sailingadalynne
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCQCd-egRgoAJi6fUvgEvI_A
Lake Travis, Austin, TX

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5851 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 16:35:07

I'd strongly advise against it. Whether you go up a ladder or on a bosun's chair, a C25 is likely to heel under the weight aloft of an adult male. I'd hate to be high up on a 24' ladder and have it begin swaying back and forth under me. The many C25 owners I know prefer to lower the mast. It isn't a terrible job. With practice and 2-3 strong helpers, you can lower it in 10-15 minutes and re-raise it in about the same. At my lake, we rounded up a couple helpers from the docks on Saturday morning.

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

BKPC25
1st Mate

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USA
74 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 16:42:12

Somebody suggested to tie the boat down to the dock really tight to prevent heeling...she is on a slip, so I can tie get down on both sides.
Thx for your suggestion, however it's a by myself operation... so I have to do it on my own.

1973 C22 #1803 "Baby Adalynne"
(1979 C25 #1389 "Adalynne")
Instagram: #sailingadalynne
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCQCd-egRgoAJi6fUvgEvI_A
Lake Travis, Austin, TX

Edited by - BKPC25 on 11/29/2017 16:43:25

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 17:04:26

I've seen a ladder used to get to the steaming or deck light and some light spreader work without a problem using a halyard as a safety line but never up to the top. You could never get the boat rock solid tying it to a dock. Remember 1" of sway at the cabin equals a foot or two at the top of the mast. My vote, Drop the mast.

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

BCG-Woodbury
Mainsheet Editor

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USA
396 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 17:08:10

I have a 28 foot extension ladder that I used for the job a few years back. I was moored at the dock at the time. I started by placing the ladder in the compressed state next to the mast and lashed the fixed section to the mast in a few locations. I extended the ladder and lashed that section in a few locations. I'm on a lake so the wasn't much movement of the boat except for some passing powerboats. It was honestly easier than I expected but not for folks that are afraid of heights. There is a video on my Facebook page if you are interested. I replaced the wire halyards with lines and new sheaves this way.

Regards,

Brian & JoAnne Gleissner
Knot So Fast
1984 Catalina 25, SR/SK
Traditional Interior
Lake Candlewood, CT

BKPC25
1st Mate

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USA
74 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 17:10:37

Excellent!
Cool pictures. I was gonna lean it to the mast fully extended, but tie it directly to the mast might be a better way to go.
Did you tie the boat tight to the dock?
Also, I was thinking to tie two points from half way up the mast down to the dock on both sides too.

1973 C22 #1803 "Baby Adalynne"
(1979 C25 #1389 "Adalynne")
Instagram: #sailingadalynne
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCQCd-egRgoAJi6fUvgEvI_A
Lake Travis, Austin, TX

Edited by - BKPC25 on 11/29/2017 17:16:34

Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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1889 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 20:09:26

If a halyard got away on my Catalina 25, I'd prefer lowering the mast to climbing that high by any means (and I've stepped out of perfectly good airplanes mid-flight

).

I've also heard of rigging a coat hanger wire hook on the jib halyard (with a retrieval line

), then bending, shaking, wiggling, and jiggling it so as to snag the fugitive halyard shackle.

Regarding reducing mast sway, after immobilizing the hull with a web of tight dock lines, tie a loop in the middle of an anchor rode, raise that loop tight to the masthead with the main halyard, then tie off the ends to docks or pilings either side of the boat, as far out (shallowest angle) as practical.

Good luck, and try not to break your neck!

-- Leon Sisson

� Leon Sisson

BKPC25
1st Mate

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USA
74 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 20:22:19

Thx for the suggestions.
Brian Gleissner has the proof that the ladder idea can be done. The video is a fun watch.

1973 C22 #1803 "Baby Adalynne"
(1979 C25 #1389 "Adalynne")
Instagram: #sailingadalynne
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCQCd-egRgoAJi6fUvgEvI_A
Lake Travis, Austin, TX

Edited by - BKPC25 on 11/29/2017 20:23:44

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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4275 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 20:24:13

I tried the ladder thing on my boat once. I made it to the spreaders and it was not stable enough for me.

I've also raised and lowered my mast by myself in the slip twice. The first time I had a 10 - 12 knot direct crosswind. Once I had everything rigged up it literally took less than 30 seconds to actually drop the mast. It's not a big deal if you set it up properly.

If all that happened is your shackle went to the top of the mast get one of these at Lowe's, tape a stiff coat hanger (or a bent piece of 1/8" all thread or bar stock) to the end as Leon suggested and you can be done in 5 minutes without all the above effort and you don't have to risk breaking your neck (or worse).

I actually have one of my home security cameras mounted on one of these 23' poles that's anchored in the ground. If there's some weather rolling in I raise it up so I can see over the roof's in my neighborhood then watch the weather from the comfort of my bedroom! I can rotate in the ground tube so I can see the weather from any direction.

BTW... I usually keep it all the way down and pointed so none of my neighbors houses can be seen.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Mr-LongArm-Pro-Lok-8-4-ft-to-23-2-ft-Telescoping-Threaded-Extension-Pole/4755038

Association Member

GaryB
Andiamo
'89 SR/WK #5862
Kemah,TX

Edited by - GaryB on 11/29/2017 20:32:25

BKPC25
1st Mate

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USA
74 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 20:38:16

I will drop the mast at one point, but I am looking forward to the challenge of climbing the mast. Replacing the bulbs, boom topping lift and inspect the masthead. Also, wanna see the view from there and take a selfie (LOL).

1973 C22 #1803 "Baby Adalynne"
(1979 C25 #1389 "Adalynne")
Instagram: #sailingadalynne
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCQCd-egRgoAJi6fUvgEvI_A
Lake Travis, Austin, TX

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4275 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 20:42:52

quote:
Originally posted by BKPC25

I will drop the mast at one point, but I am looking forward to the challenge of climbing the mast. Replacing the bulbs, boom topping lift and inspect the masthead. Also, wanna see the view from there and take a selfie (LOL).

You can get a view from the top of the mast and take a selfie with one of these...

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dji-spark-quadcopter-alpine-white/5896802.p?skuId=5896802&cmp=RMX&extStoreId=199&ref=212&loc=DWA&ksid=e2809a63-633a-4542-801f-4c07dcd4eeca&ksprof_id=3&ksaffcode=pg252543&ksdevice=c&lsft=ref:212,loc:2&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuKqutLDl1wIVj1cNCh3AdQwDEAYYASABEgLSJ_D_BwE

I always look for a reason to go to Lake Travis. Let me know if you want someone to call the ambulance for you and I'll take a picture of you at the top of the mast (if you make it that far) with my Spark.

Which marina are you slipped in?

Association Member

GaryB
Andiamo
'89 SR/WK #5862
Kemah,TX

Edited by - GaryB on 11/29/2017 20:46:21

Akenumber
Navigator

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USA
247 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 20:45:43

Wow guys, I don't recommend anyone doing anything they are not comfortable with. I'm over 200 lbs and I go up the mast. Use safety halyards and be safe, but since the first t time I have got used to it. And don't forget the usual awesome view.

Ken
San Diego
84 C25 SR/FK 4116
The KRAKEN

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4275 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 20:51:23

quote:
Originally posted by Akenumber

Wow guys, I don't recommend anyone doing anything they are not comfortable with. I'm over 200 lbs and I go up the mast. Use safety halyards and be safe, but since the first t time I have got used to it. And don't forget the usual awesome view.

Yeah but you're in your 30's and most of us are 50+. Hate to say it but it does make a difference. Enjoy it while it lasts... it will come waaaay faster than you think!

Association Member

GaryB
Andiamo
'89 SR/WK #5862
Kemah,TX

BKPC25
1st Mate

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USA
74 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 20:57:12

I am 44. #200.
I will get this done hopefully next week.

1973 C22 #1803 "Baby Adalynne"
(1979 C25 #1389 "Adalynne")
Instagram: #sailingadalynne
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCQCd-egRgoAJi6fUvgEvI_A
Lake Travis, Austin, TX

BKPC25
1st Mate

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USA
74 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 20:59:12

I am 44 and #200.
Hopefully I can get this done next week.
I will keep you posted.

1973 C22 #1803 "Baby Adalynne"
(1979 C25 #1389 "Adalynne")
Instagram: #sailingadalynne
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCQCd-egRgoAJi6fUvgEvI_A
Lake Travis, Austin, TX

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 21:45:18

Split it down the middle. Use a ladder to the spreaders, then a paint pole to reach up and snag the errant halyard!

DavidP
1975 C-22 SK #5459 "Shadowfax" Fleet 52
PO of 1984 C-25 SK/TR #4142 "Recess"
Percy Priest Yacht Club, Hamilton Creek Marina, Nashville, TN

Lee Panza
Captain

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USA
465 Posts

Response Posted - 11/29/2017 : 22:23:20

I'll turn 70 in a few months, and I'm up to almost 200#, but within the past two weeks I've just gone up my mast for my first couple of times. With a decent climbing apparatus (there are packages available commercially but I put together my own rig) it's surprisingly easy. And my swing keel is far more stable than I expected. In fact, a friend stepped on board while I was up there, and after a thrilling ride the boat quickly stabilized again; it didn't feel like it was tipping excessively and I never felt unsafe (just the same, I admonished my friend to step more gingerly next time).

A ladder may get you up there this one time, safe at the dock, but if you ever need to get up there when you're away from the dock (or even just tied up away from your own marina) it's nice to be prepared. With the modification I made to my upper shrouds I can drop my mast by myself, but it still takes several hours to prepare everything (including removing the mainsail and boom) and lower it, plus several more to put it back up. Instead, it takes 5 minutes to don my ascending rig and 5 more to get up to the masthead. Far easier for changing a bulb or checking a connection. I'll also be able to more frequently inspect the standing rigging terminals.

Oh, and yeah the view was really cool!

The trouble with a destination - any destination, really - is that it interrupts The Journey.

Lee Panza
SR/SK #2134
San Francisco Bay
(Brisbane, CA)

Peregrine
Admiral

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830 Posts

Response Posted - 11/30/2017 : 01:46:01

I have a "Captain Al's Mast Ladder". It's a webbing ladder that is hoisted by a halyard.
I have been to the top of the mast alone. I double up the halyards using both the main halyard and the spinnaker halyards I also wear a rock climbing harness and clip in as I go up.
The video link below shows a similar ladder but mine has PVC "steps" that IMO are more stable.
This year I need to get to the spreaders to retape some anti bird lines.
BTW I am 68 and feel it is safe IF used with a harness and sling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IuJ25DoPr8

John Gisondi
Peregrine #4762

*

Edited by - Peregrine on 11/30/2017 01:52:48

Peregrine
Admiral

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830 Posts

Response Posted - 11/30/2017 : 02:25:21

Just as an aside;
While racing on Crescendo, Jerry Bey's Frers 41 out out of Stamford Yacht Club.
Off of Newport the crew managed to lose the spinnaker halyard. Being the bowman I got called to go up the mast. We were off shore (open ocean) and rolling pretty good. Fine, clipped in and climbed the 50+ feet, got the halyard and came down. Great went back below because it wasn't my watch BUT NO...
"Yo John!! Lost the halyard again!" Really!!??
Second time up was not a treat, that mast is swinging back and forth 8-10 feet at the top. Full main still racing.
Don't lose your halyard.

John Gisondi
Peregrine #4762

*

BKPC25
1st Mate

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USA
74 Posts

Response Posted - 11/30/2017 : 06:15:01

Lee, I have been half way up the mast by throwing a line over the spreader keeping it close to the mast. I have all rigging gear/harness and skill necessary to do the ascend and descend. Congrats for doing it at 70! Hat's off!
The ladder idea was to help ease the climb in case i have to do it multiple times.
John, the mast ladder is a great idea. Thx.

1973 C22 #1803 "Baby Adalynne"
(1979 C25 #1389 "Adalynne")
Instagram: #sailingadalynne
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCQCd-egRgoAJi6fUvgEvI_A
Lake Travis, Austin, TX

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 11/30/2017 : 11:32:03

Years ago I helped a friend do the coat-hanger trick Leon describes. You can make the hook long enough to reach the shackle on whatever crane you have at the mast-head. Tie a dock line or whatever as a retrieval line, tie the hook just above the jib shackle, haul it up, wiggle and twist it around until you hook the spin halyard shackle, and pull it down. Then consider attaching a small weight like a 6-8 oz. fishing sinker at the shackle to counter-balance the halyard the next time you let it go. (Stuff happens on the foredeck.) A little added weight aloft isn't that big a deal when running down-wind.

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 11/30/2017 11:45:07

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4275 Posts

Response Posted - 11/30/2017 : 21:55:06

quote:
Originally posted by BKPC25

I am 44 and #200.
Hopefully I can get this done next week.
I will keep you posted.

I'll be 64 in January. There is a difference! :)

Association Member

GaryB
Andiamo
'89 SR/WK #5862
Kemah,TX

BKPC25
1st Mate

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USA
74 Posts

Response Posted - 12/01/2017 : 04:46:06

GaryB, let me know when you would like to come to Lake Travis for a day sail. I am at Marshall Ford. Better yet...any of you are welcome!
Adalynne is in the water all year round.
Thx for all your suggestions and concerns.
Lessons learned:
Forget the ladder.
I need to be able to climb my own mast the traditional way.
Also, learn and able to execute to raise and lower the mast.
AND never to let the any of the halyards escape.
Thx again!

1973 C22 #1803 "Baby Adalynne"
(1979 C25 #1389 "Adalynne")
Instagram: #sailingadalynne
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCQCd-egRgoAJi6fUvgEvI_A
Lake Travis, Austin, TX

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3312 Posts

Response Posted - 12/01/2017 : 09:37:19

I like to remind y'all that little Dame Ellen McCarthur (all 5' 2" of her) climbed her mast single-handed in the Southern Ocean 4 times. Really, to climb a C25's mast while tied in a slip cannot be a big deal - unless you are genuinely afraid of heights. Definitely quicker and easier and less time-consuming than dropping the mast.

Derek Crawford
Chief Measurer C25-250 2008
Previous owner of "This Side UP"
1981 C-25 TR/FK #2262 Used to have an '89 C22 #9483, "Downsized"
San Antonio, Texas

Lee Panza
Captain

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USA
465 Posts

Response Posted - 12/01/2017 : 20:11:08

quote:
Originally posted by Derek Crawford

Definitely quicker and easier and less time-consuming than dropping the mast.

Definitely!

And more fun!

Possibly even safer: if that long metal pipe gets loose and comes down on someone in the cockpit, or on the dock, it could kill them just as dead as someone who had somehow managed to overcome the multiple levels of safety in the equipment used to climb a mast. I saw a mast get away from people lowering it; fortunately only property damage resulted.

But I've never actually read or heard of anyone falling off a mast; I think most of us are naturally careful when we do something scary like that.

The trouble with a destination - any destination, really - is that it interrupts The Journey.

Lee Panza
SR/SK #2134
San Francisco Bay
(Brisbane, CA)

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3754 Posts

Response Posted - 12/02/2017 : 13:37:26

I followed dasreboot's link to the girl who made a ladder. She has links to how several people built them. I think it is a great idea and cost $20 -$30 instead of $300. I think it would be safer than lashing an extension ladder to the mast since its fixed to the sail track. Flat webbing with a bowline on a bight for thighs and a chest loop to a halyard and clipping off to a stirrup loop would satisfy me, again a lot cheaper than a climbing harness that I might use once every year or two., but that's me. I went up in a bosun's chair once snd it wasn't nearly as unstable as I expected. Definitely a short list project. I agree that if its more than a 10 minute job, drop the mast. I also do that single handed on occasion, but its definitely more of a challenge at 73. I've also retrieved an errant halyard with a couple of sections of 1/2" pvc pipe

Dave B. aboard Pearl
1982 TR/SK/Trad. #3399
Lake Erie/Florida Panhandle

Edited by - Dave5041 on 12/02/2017 13:43:33

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