Raing (dropping) mast with aid of bridge!

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Vega1447

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Oct 19, 2019
921
Albin Vega 27 Limerick
I'm planning to take Breakaway to sea in the summer.

From the non-tidal Shannon, through a sea-lock, then through Limerick
city and to sea.

The mast will need to be raised once the last bridge spanning the
Shannon has been passed.

A friend tells me that the following is regularly done:

Yacht secured to (downstream side of !) bridge just before end of flood
(on the tidal river Shannon).
Helper on bridge to take a line through a railing on bridge and drop
both ends back to yacht.
Crew then secure line to spreaders with running hitch, take standing
part to winches and and up she goes.
Crew secure standing rigging and helper drops line back to yacht.
The running hitch around the spreaders could be pulled free with a
previously attached light line..

If job was delayed too long and flow picked up it would all get a bit crap..

Any comments?

John V1447 Breakaway

--
John A. Kinsella Ph: +353-61-202148 (Direct)
+353-61-333644 x 2148 (Switch)
Mathematics Dept. e-mail: John.Kinsella@...
University of Limerick FAX: +353-61-334927
IRELAND Web: John Kinsella's Website
 
B

bobnlesafloat

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Oct 31, 2019
163
We saw two yachts do exactly that on the river (Herault/Hinault?) immediately south of Agde in the south of France:

There's a road bridge which crosses the river and which must be about 11 - 11.5m clearance (we twanged the VHF aerial on it getting back out of Agde) The tides and flow were both nominal and they took a pair of bow lines to the red/green marker posts just upstream of the bridge and hauled the yachts up on these for the last few metres into position, they'd a block and tackle suspended from the bridge's handrail, which they hooked on to pre rigged slings around the masts; once secure the rigging was disconnected, the masts lifted about six inches and the yachts then eased back downstream on the bow lines again, before the mast was re-lowered until the heel sat on a towel close to the bow and loosely tied to the pushpit, then the really clever bit; they edged the yachts slowly forward (by shortening the bow lines once again, though more so) whilst slowly easing the mast down until it lay in two A frames, one on top of the main cabin and another
lashed to the pushpit, once down and secure, they slipped their bow lines and motored up to Agde town for the night and then on into the canal above it. They'd clearly rigged the hoisting gear and mast slings in advance, put the job itself probably took less that ten minutes per yacht, so I presume they'd done it before. We didn't see they or any others hoisting masts there, but presumeably it was just a reverse of the same process.

It was certainly a very impressive trick, but you'd need to be sure that the river's flow wasn't too strong and more importantly that it wasn't likely to reverse halfway through the operation.

Bob Carlisle
Spring Fever 1776
 
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dougpol1

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Feb 13, 2010
528
I don't know anything about your circumstance there but I helped a
friend take his boat across a Florida canal and to go under a brideg we
loaded water into the dingy and use the now heavy dingy to heel the boat
over about 45 degrees using a mast winch and a halyard to pull the mast
over and with me in the dingy I ran the outboard motor enough that the
boat could not turn sideways under the bridge. Worked pretty good in
that particular circumstance

DougBob Carlisle wrote:
 
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