Mast Climbing
- Thread starter Ralph Johnstone
- Start date
Thanks for the suggestion. Always comes back to the same problem with the Easy Climb ........ I need a third line to act as the safety line.
I have used a safety harness, and a tether wrapped around the mast. Slide it up as I go, need to unhook it to get around the shrouds and other obstructions. Not sure how I would get down from the shrouds if something happened, but at least I would not be splattered on the deck.
I have also tied my spare halyard to the safety harness, and had someone just pull the slack out of the line every 10 feet or so.
Like you, I would like to be able to climb the stick with no help....but short of adding mast steps, I don't think I can. Have not tried ascenders, but I think is harder than it looks.
Really liked the idea of a 6:1 block and tackle, hoisted up on a halyard, but the amount of lined needed is crazy. I saw Robert Redford do it in "All is Lost"...he made it look easy...and he is like 75 or so....oh,,wait that was a movie.
Greg
That is my biggest curiosity as to how you can keep the safety line snug without someone continuously taking up the slack as you ascend. Maybe I'm just being blind in one eye and can't see out of the other but I just can't understand how one person alone can ascend any climbing device and maintain a safety line.
Ralph. When you can not run a belay to a person, then you have to improvise. Take a halyard and cleat it taught on the mast or to the deck. Now attach a sliding Icicle Hitch or Prusik Knot to eh halyard and to your harness. As you climb you slide the safety knots up the halyard as you go. Should you fall as you put weight on the safety knot it grips the safety halyard and arrests your fall. You may slid a few feet but these knots tighten on the halyard and slow/stop your fall. As you can guess nothing is perfect, but these are reasonable safe backups if you must climb a mast alone.
you get a 4 part block and tackle and rig it up as you safety line and as you go up you pull the tail to keep the blocks snug.....and if for any reason you need to catch yourself on the safety line you just grab the 4 parts and hold them tight in your hand ...that will stop you from falling ...then to let yourself down you just loosen up on your grip and it will slowly let you drift back down......if you think i am not correct just rig one up in your garage or whatever and give it a test drive about 4 to 6 ft off the ground suspending all your weight on it ...depending on your weight you may need 5 or even 6 parts to do this and handle it safely ...when i was working on floating scaffolds we we rigged with a 4 part 3/4 rope block and tackle and to go down we would do what i described...... me, scaffold ,yoke and all just by grabbing the bundle of rope and holding it in place...your hand and grip act as a break......
Geezz just get one of these they work great. I choose safety. I am not affiliated with them I just use there stuff. My buddy just bought a boat and it came with one and he has been up his mast for various reason three time so far this season. I told him to get one 5 years ago now he wishes he did.
http://www.atninc.com/atn-mastclimber-sailing-equipment.shtml
http://www.atninc.com/atn-mastclimber-sailing-equipment.shtml
I hope you're using an additional line for a safety line and NOT following the demonstration shown in their video and other pictures they have on their site. I could not see if there was a safety line in the Vendee Globe videos. In fact, I would say that MOST of the demonstrations of mast climbing equipment on the web don't use a safety line.
Everywhere you look in sailboating it's safety, safety, safety, but when it comes to climbing a mast where the outcome of an equipment failure is most likely death, c'mon take a chance
. I appreciate the basic idea of the mast climber Keith, but if I head up in that direction, I've got to be wearing a body harness with a separate halyard snugged up from below as I ascend. Thanks again.
Ralph; Suggest you get a true climbing harness, ascender, gri-gri and some instruction on use from a local climbing school. This stuff has all been worked out. You will be on one line, but you will have redundant safety. The concern with the ATN is the loosy-goosie bosuns chair, the lack of attachment of the lower ascender to your harness belay loop ( should be a gri-gri for controlled descent) and the lack of a safety line from the top ascender to your harness belay loop. That would give you two attachments to your static climbing line which I would really really suggest you tie off a dedicated climbing line rather than use your nice expensive halyard. You are justified to be concerned, but should address that with instruction. Get it right and you will have zero problems and can safely climb your mast in any conditions including while underway.
We had a kid get killed a few years ago over at Rock Hall when he trusted his girlfriend to hoist him up the stick, introduced an unwise safety vector and she dropped him on the deck. Freaking tragedy. Hard to make the case that you aren't safer doing this on your own with proper skill and equipment.
We had a kid get killed a few years ago over at Rock Hall when he trusted his girlfriend to hoist him up the stick, introduced an unwise safety vector and she dropped him on the deck. Freaking tragedy. Hard to make the case that you aren't safer doing this on your own with proper skill and equipment.
There's no way I'll go anywhere near the mast without having a completely separate safety line. I've been hoisted in a bosun's chair several times in the past and always had a separate halyard attached to a body harness. Wouldn't consider, for a split second, relying on the single halyard attached to the chair as a "safety line". Somebody makes a mistake on your one and only ascending line, whether climbed or winched, and it's all over. Just like the poor guy in Rock Hall when his girlfriend made that one, tiny, simple, little mistake.
Any human can make a mistake, even my crew, and that's why I'll always have a separate safety line when aloft. It doesn't matter how many attachments you have to your "one and only line" , a safety line is an "additional line" to make it down safely when things go wrong.
Well, good topic/ One of the other boaters on our dock has one of those nylon webbing laaders that you raise in the sail track.
I try to time changing my masthead light with his . I also use a chest sling and ascender with my climbing harness on a fixed line for security when at the mast head.
I also have athree ascenders on board that will get me to the steaming light without a big hassle. Hope that helps
I try to time changing my masthead light with his . I also use a chest sling and ascender with my climbing harness on a fixed line for security when at the mast head.
I also have athree ascenders on board that will get me to the steaming light without a big hassle. Hope that helps
I always know exactly what I'm doing
.................... it's the rest of the world I worry about. Running rigging and winches are not intended for human safety, that's why you MUST have a separate safety line when aloft.Your life ............... your choice.
You didn't know how to get up the mast without being winched up! A static climbing line is rated to hold you and 10 or so of your little buddies, and is not secured by a winch, they are tied off with well-known, trusty climbing knots, or cleated as the case warrants. Charles Erwin provided you with a good how-to article.
A static climbing line is rated to hold you and 10 or so of your little buddies, and is not secured by a winch, they are tied off with well-known, trusty climbing knots, or cleated as the case warrants. Charles Erwin provided you with a good how-to article.
Charles Erwin has no problem with single line ascender climbing but a second separate safety line - managed by a friend or by the climber himself used with a third ascender (in case he has no friends) - is a requirement.
Erwin has the French made all Cobalt/Stainless ankle joint to prove it too.
Erwin has the French made all Cobalt/Stainless ankle joint to prove it too.
Again ................... your life, your choice.You didn't know how to get up the mast without being winched up!
Can we see a picture of that ? ? ? What happens if you put a magnet over it ? Does it affect compass readings ?
I can see 316 S/S ............ but cobalt/stainless, that's just way too fancy
! ! ! !
I don't mind the guys going up as they're getting paid for it, but give the poor dog a break.
I think the point we're trying to make here is that these single ascending, climbing, lifting, or what have you lines are the working lines. I want an additional safety line when aloft, something completely separate from the working line, so that "IF" something goes wrong with the working line, you're saved.
Like an electrical fuse is a safety device ............ nothing should ever go wrong but if the wiring should short out, you're saved.
Like a PFD is a safety device ............ nothing should ever go wrong but should you fall over, you're saved.
Like a relief valve on your hot water tank is a safety device ............ nothing should ever go wrong but if the tank should over-pressure, you're saved.
Like a propane detector/shutdown is a safety device in your cabin ............ nothing should ever go wrong but if you get a gas leak, you're saved.
Like a pilot light sensor is a safety device on your gas stove ............ nothing should ever go wrong but if the main and pilot flames are extinguished, you're saved.
"IF" something goes wrong with the working line, pretty much a death sentence. If life safety wasn't involved, no big deal. Just be careful and take a chance.