Appledore Crewman Dies After Fall from Mast

Maine Sail · Jan 26, 2012

Soundbounder said:
Sad news from Key West

The first mate of the schooner Appledore who sustained serious injuries January 17, when he fell approximately 50’ onto the 86’ ship’s deck while working aloft has died, according to a family member.

According to Lt. Jeff Fry, senior investigating officer for U.S. Coast Guard Sector Key West, J.C. Smith, 25 was in a harness and working near the top of the schooner’s mast when the accident occurred at approximately 9:00 a.m. last Tuesday. At the time, the Appledore was tied up at the wharf, with Smith and 2 other crew members onboard.

http://boatinglocal.com/news/appledore-crewman-dies-after-fall-from-mast.html

http://knox.villagesoup.com/news/st...injured-in-fall-from-65-foot-mast-dies/480111

Very sad!:cry: Should have never happened but they were apparently not doing this safely as they could have... If eel terribly for the girl at the base of the spar as she will have to live with this and it is not entirely her fault.

I always go up with two halyards, one as a safety and one as the hoist. When at the top I "clip in" with a third safety line. The two halyards is more of a pita because you need to take up both and adjust/secure the safety every three or so feet so any fall is not big if the primary were to fail. Takes longer but is safer. I also never put anyone at the base whom I don't implicitly trust. The girl at the base was probably unqualified to be in charge of the hoist & belay but in situations where it's "done it tons of times" you tend to get a little too comfortable..

After my buddy Roy fell from the spreaders on a 42 footer, and destroyed his right leg, requiring years of PT, a new artificial knee and multiple bits of titanium, I take going up pretty seriously. I didn't always and could have easily suffered the same fate... Roy was out of commission for a long time.

The scars on his calf looked like shark bite after the bone ripped his leg apart and from multiple surgeries. He told people for years that's what happened, a shark bite...

For Roy a plastic mast head sheave crumbled and when the halyard dropped it was cut just enough to allow it to part under the shock load. I was not there when it happened but I understand it was a scary scene..

soling42 · Jan 26, 2012

Killed from the fall. That's too high of a price to pay for the sake of haste. Wasn't there a recent case in the islands where a wife was hoisting a husband aloft with an electric winch when she became entangled and couldn't reach the switch to stop the motor? There are a few shortcuts that should be avoided, and in honor of this young guy I'd hope safety aloft would be reviewed by all of us.

Sad day for that crew indeed.

Benny17441 · Jan 26, 2012

Sad. Can only speculate that he must have taken the pressure off from the halyard by standing on a spreader thus loosening the wraps around the winch. Why the bitter end was not properly cleated shows lack of experience by the person on deck. Pretty sure the USCG investigation will cite a lack of proper procedures but their yealding the actions to be taken to OSHA I find will not yield the best results. Most sailors would consider the halyard to be the weakest point in this operation but I think the weakest point stands on deck. That poor girl must feel terrible but she was probably over her head and the accident was not entirely her fault. I think ultimately the person going aloft should dictate the safety procedures to be followed. I'm not trying to second guess anyone but I would recommend that if you are going aloft that you get an experienced person on deck, that the bitter end be cleated when you are at least 6 feet up the mast. The person should clip the halyard as well as tie a knot. He should also have a strap the he can tie around the mast, this would insure that he would not fall any further than the past set of spreaders. The use of radios would be advisable to insure good communication between the person aloft and those tending the line down below. I have always insisted that the person aloft should help themselves both ascending and descending by working their hands and feet to take some of the strain from the winch tender. This also insures they will be in touch with the mast to perhaps slow an accidental fall. I do hope OSHA enlists the help of a sailing association to investigate and before issuing any directives. The USCG should follow closely as they could be instrumental in giving notice to private boat owners about proper procedures to be followed. The great majority of sailboats are for private use and any action taken by OSHA will not cover them. Right now everyone more or less does it their own way. To have the USCG together with the US Sailing Assoc. compile a list of good practices and formulate a recommnded procedure to be dissiminated would be at least to me the proper way to try to avoid such thing from happening again.

alexco38 · Jan 26, 2012

I strongly believe in a harness with self ascending (like rock climbing) device is safer than someone on a winch. I have special rock climbing rope.

Body harness is safer than a chair. The safety line is on a self tailing winch.

I never got lowered down. Always use the ascenders to inch down. It's a slow process.

Some people argues with me that they always being winched up/down. but I don't care. It's my butt.

Better yet, avoid going aloft if possible.

Tim R. · Jan 26, 2012

Very sad. A real loss to the sailing community.

- Never use the self tailer to hoist someone up a mast
- We always use 2 people on deck with two halyards
- We always use a climbing harness even if we also use a chair(for longer projects)
- We attach a length of webbing to the harness and wrap it around the mast 3 times and back to the harness. Will stop a fall and also can be used to clip in.

RichH · Jan 26, 2012

With quite a few years of 'high angle rescue experience' .... always put a 'safety jumper' across any knot or shackle or carabiner, etc. ... and yes a secondary safety line is very appropriate.
A safety-jumper is a simple short auxiliary line that is tied across knots, shackles and carabiners, etc. so that if the knot, shackle, carabiner, or harness fails ... the jumper 'saves your ass'.

The 'safest' way to go aloft is probably by 'shinnying' yourself up with bare feet, and all that rope stuff simply 'follows you and is ready if you need it'. Think of south pacific natives climbing coconut trees ... but with 'safety ropes' attached.

Dan Johnson · Jan 26, 2012

My rigger...

brings his own 4 to 1 pulley and line system and his own boson's chair and harness. He hauls the top pulley up on a boat halyard and raises himself up on the 4 part system while his wife does the belay below and away from the mast base.

A second halyard is put on his harness and he uses safety straps around the mast much as telco linemen use to climb poles.

It seems to be a very safe way to go up a mast.

FourPoints · Jan 26, 2012

Coming from the experience of being (cell) tower climbing and rescue climbing certified, I always use a climbing harness and two halyards when going up, and on the way up I have the rope clutch for both halyards engaged / locked so if the line does slip off the winch somehow, the clutch will hold.

I also use the spinnaker halyard, and the main halyard as their clutches are on opposite sides of the cabin top (the main clutch is a triple that also holds the genoa halyard and vang, so if that clutch failed or was ripped off the cabin top, both main and genoa halyard would fail together and thus be useless as a backup).

For lowering, I grab ahold of the mast and hold my entire weight, have the main clutch unlocked with the line secure around the winch, then have someone release the spin halyard clutch, and only at this point I don't have any solid backup, but I am still holding my weight. I then slowly put weight on the halyard until the person is holding most of my weight (but still prepared to hang onto the mast) and have them start lowering me. I NEVER let go of the mast on the way down.

The decent isn't the safest, and when a 3rd person is available I do have them back up the person on the main with the spin halyard in case the person with the main slips, but short of bringing up a length of climbing rope and using a descender to come down on that, it's the best I can do onboard my boat.

WayneH · Jan 26, 2012

Mast-Mate, spin halyard and rock climbing harness.

I've used a bosun's chair. Once. Nearly fell out of it twice. On the same climb. Safety strap between legs held me in both times but ruined my evening with my spouse.

The harness goes on the spin halyard which has a jam cleat above the winch on the mast so that the wife can keep all the slack out easily.

The mast mate uses the main halyard and goes all the way to the masthead. Use stiffer shoe soles to climb with it as bare feet and aqua socks tend to pinch in the straps.

The wife belays me going up and down with me calling "Slack" when ever I need to move downward.

One man's opinion. YMMV

Dan Hill · Jan 27, 2012

Very sad, my family and I sailed on her out of Camden Harbor in Maine a few years ago as tourists. The entire crew went out of there way to make their guests feel at home. Thoughts and prayers to the crew and families.