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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Going up the mast for the first time

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Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9082 Posts

Response Posted - 05/13/2010 : 07:44:53

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by redviking
 ...A charter day sailor out of Newport RI tied up next to our boat and we hauled him aloft so he could retrieve his main halyard by swinging out and grabbing his mast.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">If I were your insurance carrier, you'd be getting a cancellation e-mail within the next three minutes!

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redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 05/13/2010 : 08:09:44

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Stinkpotter
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by redviking
 ...A charter day sailor out of Newport RI tied up next to our boat and we hauled him aloft so he could retrieve his main halyard by swinging out and grabbing his mast.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">If I were your insurance carrier, you'd be getting a cancellation e-mail within the next three minutes!

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

He had two halyards attached to him, AND a downhaul that was handled by someone on his boat. His other halyard was attached to one of our winches and that allowed his mast to be moved next to our spreaders. No more dangerous than going up with only one halyard or standing on a ladder.

Sorry Glen, no video. Didn't think of it at the time. It was flat calm, no wind, we were anchored out, just didn't seem all that remarkable as we planned it out pretty carefully. He retrieved the halyard the first time and retaped my spreader boot while he was there.

sten

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 05/13/2010 : 08:13:26

I'm thinking of a way to go up the mast just so I can jump off into the water.

Edited by - NautiC25 on 05/13/2010 08:13:42

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 05/13/2010 : 09:14:44

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by NautiC25
 I'm thinking of a way to go up the mast just so I can jump off into the water.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
...famous last words!

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NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 05/13/2010 : 09:23:20

I'm still young, dumb, and full of.........rum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FIXk3B6GpI&feature=related

Edited by - NautiC25 on 05/13/2010 09:23:38

skrenz
Captain

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USA
351 Posts

Response Posted - 05/13/2010 : 10:17:34

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FIXk3B6GpI&feature=related
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

And all their suits stayed on. Damn.

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JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 05/13/2010 : 11:21:06

Maybe you can rig up some good ol' ratlines and build a crow's nest!!!

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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5396 Posts

Response Posted - 05/15/2010 : 20:49:21

Watched a guy with a 40 foot mast do this today. He tried retrieving the loose halyard using the coat hanger wire trick, and he tried and he tried and he tried, well you get the picture.

He asked his buddies to crank the winch while they lofted him on a single line up (he had a harness that clipped around the mast), he grabbed the errant line, and then came back down. Looked like it took all of 3 minutes.

Of course I did not run two docks over to chide him about a backup halyard or safety precautions. I would have missed his performance by then. Just up and down. He got lucky.

Edited by - on

redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 05/16/2010 : 09:20:43

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Voyager
 
Of course I did not run two docks over to chide him about a backup halyard or safety precautions. He got lucky.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

More owners than captains...

sten

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triley
Captain

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USA
251 Posts

Response Posted - 05/16/2010 : 18:25:32

I don't go up a C 25 mast. My grandson does that on the bosuns chair with the genoa halyard as a safetyline. I have to tell you though, that I DO still climb the ratlines to the futtock shrouds on a larger boat with no problem. They are stiffer and the backstays are still easy for me to descend. I am too heavy for this little mast!

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GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4306 Posts

Response Posted - 05/16/2010 : 19:43:42

Try this:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xg8/R-100177392/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Edited by - GaryB on 05/16/2010 19:44:17

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5396 Posts

Response Posted - 05/16/2010 : 19:53:11

Gary
That certainly fits the bill for fetching lines and the like. I wonder if I can use it somehow to replace my mast light?

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Ben
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2010 : 07:38:11

Hi all,

My Smokin' Hot Girlfriend and I were successful getting the halyard down without the use of a bosun's chair or by trying any non-safe method of ascending the mast.

Funny story though. We had gone to the boat with a couple of wire hangars to make a harness that we could haul up via the backstay and try to snag the main halyard. I tied a nice retreival line on the new harness, and attached the jib halyard to it, and up the harness went, along with our prayers and hopes.

Pretty quickly and easily it reached the top, near the main halyard shackle, and I'm trying to maneuver it a bit using the downhaul I attached to it. Suddenly the downhaul comes down, WITHOUT THE HARNESS AND JIB HALYARD!!!!! I almost started crying. Evidently I had tied a terrible knot from the downhaul to the harness, and now both halyards were at the top of the mast.

Not wanting to lose manly points with my girlfriend, I said very convincingly, "That was on purpose." She wasn't buying it though. We brainstormed and decided to lash a bunch of poles together to make one freakin-long pole.

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I should have tried this first. I fully extended my homemade whisker pole, lashed the non-extendable boathook to it, lashed a broom handle to the boathook, and a big musky lure to the end of the broom handle.

After about 30 seconds of trying, down comes the jib halyard, then on the next try the main halyard!!!

Thanks so much for all your advise. I think I might invest at some point in getting my own bosun's chair, to do various tasks like repair the masthead light, and for things like lost halyards, and I'll rig another safety line so there's always two halyards to use for the bosun's chair.

Edited by - on

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4024 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2010 : 14:18:22

Come on,Its a piece of cake. Just look at this kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCThMcvjXO8

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