The main halyard schackle and clevis pin of our 1999 Hunter 310 is resting comfortably at the top of the mast!! The schackle is not caught nor tangled; simply pulled to the very top by accident by a well-meaning visitor. With plenty of bitter end at the base of the mast,I have tried shaking the halyard with no tension but the weight of the schackle is simply insufficient for the halyard to return back down to the deck. We do not have a spinnaker halyard and the genoa is on a Selden brand manual Furlex system. I believe the topping lift is "fixed" to the top of the mast and therfor cannot use it to hoist myself aloft in a boatswain's chair. Appreciate your input.
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Ouch. A fear of mine when others are aboard.
You may have to go to a dockyard that has a hoist or crane used for stepping and unstepping masts, and have them raise you up to the top. Yikes! If someone has an easier solution I'd sure like to hear it in case it ever happens to me. Best of luck.
You may have to go to a dockyard that has a hoist or crane used for stepping and unstepping masts, and have them raise you up to the top. Yikes! If someone has an easier solution I'd sure like to hear it in case it ever happens to me. Best of luck.
Drop the jib...
You can drop the jib down on the deck by easing the halyard and sliding the sail down the luff track. Then at least you'll have a halyard. It's really not hard to do. Then you can either go up the jib halyard with a bosun chair or maybe tie a retrieval line onto it (so you don't loose it too!) and then attach an unfolded coat hanger or something like that. Run it up and see if you can snag the main halyard and then pull down the retrieval line. The problem might be that the exit point of the jib halyard is too low to reach the masthead but it might be worth a shot. If all else fails you might be able to get next to a friends boat and go up his mast and reach your halyard with a boathook or something. If that doesn't work you can always take it to a yard and have the pros do something... Good luck!
You can drop the jib down on the deck by easing the halyard and sliding the sail down the luff track. Then at least you'll have a halyard. It's really not hard to do. Then you can either go up the jib halyard with a bosun chair or maybe tie a retrieval line onto it (so you don't loose it too!) and then attach an unfolded coat hanger or something like that. Run it up and see if you can snag the main halyard and then pull down the retrieval line. The problem might be that the exit point of the jib halyard is too low to reach the masthead but it might be worth a shot. If all else fails you might be able to get next to a friends boat and go up his mast and reach your halyard with a boathook or something. If that doesn't work you can always take it to a yard and have the pros do something... Good luck!
worked for my buddy
The same thing happened to a friend of mine. He bought a 22 foot extending fiberglass pole (like a crappie pole), put a little hook on the top, set a 20 foot extenision ladder next to his boat and hooked it on the first try. The poles are available from kite stores or fishing stores.
The same thing happened to a friend of mine. He bought a 22 foot extending fiberglass pole (like a crappie pole), put a little hook on the top, set a 20 foot extenision ladder next to his boat and hooked it on the first try. The poles are available from kite stores or fishing stores.
Something Similar...
...happenned to me. I bought some PVC with joiners and fashioned a long "retrieval" pole. I taped a "hook" on the end and was able to retrieve the loose end of the halyard. I don't know how tall your mast is, but the taller it is, the more difficult it is to retrieve because of the flexibility of the pole.
...happenned to me. I bought some PVC with joiners and fashioned a long "retrieval" pole. I taped a "hook" on the end and was able to retrieve the loose end of the halyard. I don't know how tall your mast is, but the taller it is, the more difficult it is to retrieve because of the flexibility of the pole.
One more option ...
We purchased a LONG piece of wooden molding (the base molding used in construction). The piece was probably 25 feet long and added a simple brass hook to the end. Then, you need to strategically place yourself on a ladder (have someone hold this for you). This gets you 10 feet closer ... then you LEAN as far as your guts will let you. Also, if there is a boat lift nearby you can drive your boat into this and climb to the top with the hook. Of course when it happend to me, it was a 22 foot boat (so we didn't have the 50-foot stretch you're talking about). Good luck. BTW, if you fall, you didn't get this idea from me.
We purchased a LONG piece of wooden molding (the base molding used in construction). The piece was probably 25 feet long and added a simple brass hook to the end. Then, you need to strategically place yourself on a ladder (have someone hold this for you). This gets you 10 feet closer ... then you LEAN as far as your guts will let you. Also, if there is a boat lift nearby you can drive your boat into this and climb to the top with the hook. Of course when it happend to me, it was a 22 foot boat (so we didn't have the 50-foot stretch you're talking about). Good luck. BTW, if you fall, you didn't get this idea from me.
easy
What you do is this. 1. Get a length (mast height)of fencing wire. 2. At one end you bend about 4inches at right angles and then half of this bend (2 inches) at nearly right angles. 3.Make sure the wire is thicker than the bolt slot and if it is not get some electrical tape and every foot or so wind enough around the wire so that it will not allow the wire to come out. 4. Hope you are still with me 5. Slowly feed the wire into the bolt slot toward the top of the mast. 6. When you get it to the top hope that the bend you put in it is long enough to reach the halyard. 7. Gently twist the wire in the direction of the second bend and it will snag the halyard. 8. Gently pull the wire down and the halyard will follow. 8. Phew. 9. Get a beer 10. Don't do it again!
What you do is this. 1. Get a length (mast height)of fencing wire. 2. At one end you bend about 4inches at right angles and then half of this bend (2 inches) at nearly right angles. 3.Make sure the wire is thicker than the bolt slot and if it is not get some electrical tape and every foot or so wind enough around the wire so that it will not allow the wire to come out. 4. Hope you are still with me 5. Slowly feed the wire into the bolt slot toward the top of the mast. 6. When you get it to the top hope that the bend you put in it is long enough to reach the halyard. 7. Gently twist the wire in the direction of the second bend and it will snag the halyard. 8. Gently pull the wire down and the halyard will follow. 8. Phew. 9. Get a beer 10. Don't do it again!
crane in the yard
Never tried any of these long stick solutions, all of them sound like they'd involve a trip to the hardware store and a twenty dollar bill. The ones with the ladders on deck or against the mast - remember you may not be in the 99% that don't end up on the deck. As far as a bosun's chair, my wife is adamant that even if I could find a willing low wage winch operator, a 235lb breadwinner is forbidden on one, and don't even speak about her "babies" going aloft. The marina I diesel up at has a very nice man who gets into their bosuns chair and rides up on their crane for $120/hr, it took him 1/4 hour to retrieve a halyard (really about 1/10th of an hour but who's counting!) from the top of my mast last weekend when my shackle parted and I was faced with a similar task. Thirty bucks well spent IMHO. Jim S.
Never tried any of these long stick solutions, all of them sound like they'd involve a trip to the hardware store and a twenty dollar bill. The ones with the ladders on deck or against the mast - remember you may not be in the 99% that don't end up on the deck. As far as a bosun's chair, my wife is adamant that even if I could find a willing low wage winch operator, a 235lb breadwinner is forbidden on one, and don't even speak about her "babies" going aloft. The marina I diesel up at has a very nice man who gets into their bosuns chair and rides up on their crane for $120/hr, it took him 1/4 hour to retrieve a halyard (really about 1/10th of an hour but who's counting!) from the top of my mast last weekend when my shackle parted and I was faced with a similar task. Thirty bucks well spent IMHO. Jim S.
next time int happens
I doubt that this will help this time but you may want to consider it in the future. It has happened to me quite a few times by innocent guests that I finally attached a thin lanyard to the halyard shackle. The lanyard is always coiled (but untied) on the deck. If the halyard goes up accidentally (and without the sail attached to it!), I can always pull it down with the lanyard. When the sail is up and the lanyard fully extensed, I tie it to the base of the mast so that it wont fly around. If you get a nice red or blue lanyard it will look sort of cute too. I have a 50 ft mast, so at $0.10/ft, it's a nice $5 solution to a recurring problem. -leo
I doubt that this will help this time but you may want to consider it in the future. It has happened to me quite a few times by innocent guests that I finally attached a thin lanyard to the halyard shackle. The lanyard is always coiled (but untied) on the deck. If the halyard goes up accidentally (and without the sail attached to it!), I can always pull it down with the lanyard. When the sail is up and the lanyard fully extensed, I tie it to the base of the mast so that it wont fly around. If you get a nice red or blue lanyard it will look sort of cute too. I have a 50 ft mast, so at $0.10/ft, it's a nice $5 solution to a recurring problem. -leo
PVC pole and mast slot
I too used a PVC pipe to hoist a carefully rigged "noose" of light nylon line to capture the wayward shackle. At each joint I tied the joint to a slug in the mast slot to keep the pipe from bending. Worked very well.
I too used a PVC pipe to hoist a carefully rigged "noose" of light nylon line to capture the wayward shackle. At each joint I tied the joint to a slug in the mast slot to keep the pipe from bending. Worked very well.
Multiple boat hooks and hose clamps
When we purchased our '80 Hunter 27, I wondered why the previous owner had three telescoping boat hooks aboard. Then it dawned on me that using hose clamps to lash these together would make a fine hook for snagging a halyard up the mast. I haven't had to put this to the test on our boat yet, but when I saw a neighboring boat struggling to retrieve a halyard I grabbed the box of extra hose clamps and lashed two of these together, and they had the halyard in short order. Regards, Jon Zaimes "Airwaves" of Felton, Delaware Sailing out of Cambridge, Maryland
When we purchased our '80 Hunter 27, I wondered why the previous owner had three telescoping boat hooks aboard. Then it dawned on me that using hose clamps to lash these together would make a fine hook for snagging a halyard up the mast. I haven't had to put this to the test on our boat yet, but when I saw a neighboring boat struggling to retrieve a halyard I grabbed the box of extra hose clamps and lashed two of these together, and they had the halyard in short order. Regards, Jon Zaimes "Airwaves" of Felton, Delaware Sailing out of Cambridge, Maryland
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