Climbing the mast

[Joe_Cole]

When I was on holiday my Genoa halliard broke and I had to climb my mast. SWMBO couldn't winch me up and in the end another yachtsman kindly lent me his rock climbing Ascenders. (Thank you "Avocet of Fareham"). They were brilliant. It was the first time I have had to climb the mast and, in the end, it was like climbing stairs. I am now looking for another excuse to go up the mast!

I want to get a set for myself and have located the "Petzl" website. However, I am unsure of the best configuration and I want to use my existing bosuns chair rather than buy yet another harness. Are there any rock climbers out there who can give me some advice?

Joe Cole

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[salamicollie]

Don't even think of using the bosuns chair, get a proper climbing sit harness as you need to move quite a bit to ascend. I use a Acension on the sit harness and a tribloc with spectra strop and use both legs, tribloc goes below Ascension. I also still have another halyard as a safety line, esp for the descent - I know some guys that use a descender to come down on but neither of Acension or the tribloc can come off if you use them correctly. Of course the krabs are screw gates, and to make it comfortable for long periods of time put two mast steps at the top of the mast... Make sure you leave a few inches to the exit sheave when you reach the top, otherwise you wont be able to release it, as it needs to move up.

If you are the least bit unsure take some advice from Field and Trek or your local climbing shop and go to the local climbing wall, most of them do industrial rope access and will gladly show you how.

Note that the danger point is when you are the top and the halyard exit is below. Prestretched polyester is semistatic and can't take much of a fall, if you have Spectra or Dyneema halyards these are not designed to absorb shock loads but you'll break not the rope!

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[Dominic]

I asked a Rock Climber

I went through this a short while back.

Point one. Do not use a rock climbers harness. It is only for climbing emergencies and not for long term seating. It cuts off the circulation to the legs. I was told by the climber that four painters had died one day on an oil rig because they used these harnesses as long term seats. Apparently it is lactic acid shock after the circulation has been cut of for a while.

Point two. Ascenduers are great but a prussic knot on the down fall is better.
(Prussic knot is a symmetrical rolling hitch)

So after going into the hi-tech climbing shop for the new and easy way to get up me mast I was left in no doubt that my old fashioned way was safest and best.

(Thanks to Penrose of Falmouth/Truro for this info)

To wit; Bosuns chair (plank or cloth) plus two prussic knots on the downfall and pull yourself up.

This assumes a line going from you to the top of the mast and back down - thus you have a 2 to 1 purchase as you pull yourself up. Secondly you can add SWMBO on a halyard who has less weight to winch plus this makes a good safety line.

Downside is that only you can only lower yourself by easing the prussic knots so don´t fall asleep up there.

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[Abigail]

Re: I asked a Rock Climber

Another way is to rig up a block and tackle so one of you can haul the other up. We borrowed an arrangement from the Pardeys of using two double blocks (one with a becket) and a piece of rope four times as long as the mast. Tie rope on to becket andfeed through the four turns, then haul the tied end up the mast on halyard. Attach yourself v securely to the other block (shackles) and then your partner can haul you up v easily.

We now have mast steps which makes this less necessary, and I climb shackled on with a harness used by professional stage riggers (as distinct from yacht riggers whose H&S practices don't seem to cheerful for me), and with a bosuns chair flopping round my knees. Then I sit in the bosuns chairs suspended from another halyard for any longer job.

There is a clear gap in the market for a harness which is comfortable and safe to be hauled up in and doesn't cut you off at the thighs while you're up there (and which fits women as well as men).



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[ParaHandy]

I use a bosun's chair bought from Compass, which is perfectly OK, and bought a pair (you need 2 of course) of ascenders to suit 8-12mm rope from the local climbing shop plus a foot strap ...

salamicolle's idea of putting a pair of steps right at the top is v. good ... with ascenders, you can not get really comfortable working on mast head gear


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[CPN]

Seem to remember there was a thread on this a few weeks ago. Someone recommended the TOPCLIMBER.
See: http://www.atninc.com/topclimber.html

Have no idea how well it works and would like to hear any comments or recommendations

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[qsiv]

As an aside - I found it very difficult to get advice from a climbing shop, as my intended use was not what the equipment was designed for. I simply left it a while, and went back, discussing verything in terms of climbing rocks and buildings, rather than boat masts.

The other issue I faced was that most climbing gear is targeted at thinner ropes than I use on board (8 to 12 mm seems normal), and my smallest halyard is 14mm, and the largest 16mm. I had to buy some smaller rope, which I hoist aloft using a good halyard - I bought climbing ropes for this rather than sailing, as many have stress markers built in to warn if they have been overloaded - aas the SWL of these ropes is only a small fraction of my halyards (about 6-8000 Kg) I dont worry about the halyard failing before the messenger line.

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