Mast climbing when singlehanded on the sea - is that heard off?

[dunedin]

Common practice in solo race boats - often with the sail up.

Walking up is fastest, but wearing a suit and then jumping off is optional -

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Cole Brauer Ocean is a Facebook page of Cole Bauer and she races as well as cruises onboard a yacht. She has videos of her single handed and climbing the mast at sea, posted recently.


Cole Brauer Climbing Mast Sola At Sea Video

Cole brauer ocean

... FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ANSWERED!
I know people are going to ask so here we go!!
I use atn_inc solo mast climber set to get up and down the rig. And yes I made it down safe and sound! (A little tired: it’s a lot of work but I’m having some food and a protein shake and I’ll be ready to go do another hundred sail changes in the doldrums after some earned rest! )
No, no one is onboard with me it is a completely solo mast climb.
Yes it is safe and I am secure.
If the wind changes, I have an autopilot remote up at the top of the rig so I can control the boat from all the way up there!
The rig is 65 feet from the waterline.
The rig is carbon.
Rig is just another term for mast.
That white stuff on my nose is sunscreen.
I wear a helmet because it can be extra bumpy at the top of the mast and you don’t want to swing around and hit your head.
The sail that is unfurled is the CODE which works great in these super light conditions.
I was sailing in about 5-8knots of breeze doing about 4-7knots of boat speed.
I wear gloves, shoes, pants and long sleeves shirts because I don’t want my skin to be touching the black mast that can be very hot and chafe my skin!
Yes I’ll have some bruises in the morning but it is perfectly safe, I make sure I check the weather before I go up and have a plan if things go awry.
I also check my equipment COUNTLESS times as I’m going up and down, to make sure everything is secure.
I practiced this at the dock before doing it at sea also!! I suggest this to anyone who wants to solo sail!
Okay that’s all have a lovely rest of your day

 

[Roberto]

Ours were happy enough but the grandchildren seem to stop an the lower spreaders. Gen z & all that I suppose, with their ridiculous protective parents.

Should one of them fall from the mast, wouldn't parental authority be removed, and children placed somewhere to have an education based on proper PC guidelines?

 

[Sea Change]

Ours were happy enough but the grandchildren seem to stop an the lower spreaders. Gen z & all that I suppose, with their ridiculous protective parents.

I blame the parents (of the parents)

 

[KevinV]

Should one of them fall from the mast, wouldn't parental authority be removed, and children placed somewhere to have an education based on proper PC guidelines?

I guess that depends on how wide your decks are - splash or splat?

 

[Sea Change]

All the cruising kids I know go up their respective masts regularly. But I suppose we're not normal parents

 

[Refueler]

Thinking about kids and parents ...

When my kids went on our boats - wife was always "dont do this ... be careful ... wtach out for .. " .... I kept explaining to her .. kids feet are smaller and what is narrow to us - is a wide path to them ..

But this thread has revived my search for a solution to mast work ...

I fancy the 'climber' ... but then again - how far am I going up ?? I am certainly not doing the height of my Conq 38's mast ... near 15m base to head.
But my 25 needs spreader work done. Thats a more acceptable 6m above deck !!

 

[rogerthebodger]

Having folding steps on my mast I always go up my 15 m mast with safety harness and halyard with wife tailing the mast winch so she can just lower me down if anything happens while I am up there.

If I were to of up while single handed, I would tension the halyard and use a jammer attached to my harness just in case I slip to stop m falling and hitting the deck or the sea

 

[ylop]

All the cruising kids I know go up their respective masts regularly. But I suppose we're not normal parents

do you rent them out - like chimney sweeps - my spreaders are looking a bit green

 

[tillergirl]

Robin Knox-Johnson caulked a couple of seams in the Atlantic.

 

[Sea Change]

My solo mast climbing solution is to use an externally run halyard, tied to the bosun's chair, with the fall coming down to an old mainsheet block which has a cam cleat on it.
It works pretty well but it gets tiring if going all the way up (our mast is over 60ft).
The biggest problem is unjamming: you have to take the tension off by lifting yourself. Of I'm working at the spreaders that's quite simple, just sit on the spreader. Otherwise, I have to take and lift my weight with one hand for a couple of seconds while I unclear with the other.

It's a solution that works but you need to be fairly light/nimble/fit. It's also fairly risky so I only use it when I don't have a better option.

 

[DownWest]

Made by a member of these pages, but not sure if he still does..

 

[Roberto]

The biggest problem is unjamming: you have to take the tension off by lifting yourself. Of I'm working at the spreaders that's quite simple, just sit on the spreader. Otherwise, I have to take and lift my weight with one hand for a couple of seconds while I unclear with the other.

To get down you might take off the ascender/jumar and use a grigri/gri-gri, it has a failsafe command lever which allows descending with no effort. Also, with jumars better use a specific rope (hoisted by a halyard), normal sail halyards have a core with a cover which can be shredded by the jumar tiny hooks and slide down at full speed, those other working ropes are built in one piece. Of course none of this to be taken as advice, I just went to a climbing wall and asked specific questions to an instructor about what I wanted to do, then taking risks for myself alone

 

[Sea Change]

To get down you might take off the ascender/jumar and use a grigri/gri-gri, it has a failsafe command lever which allows descending with no effort. Also, with jumars better use a specific rope (hoisted by a halyard), normal sail halyards have a core with a cover which can be shredded by the jumar tiny hooks and slide down at full speed, those other working ropes are built in one piece. Of course none of this to be taken as advice, I just went to a climbing wall and asked specific questions to an instructor about what I wanted to do, then taking risks for myself alone

I'm not using any specialist equipment, it's literally just an old mainsheet block. It never slipped when used as a mainsheet block so I'm not expecting it to start doing so now

 

[nevis768]

Indeed.

The accepted generic name for such is 'Jumars' ( aka 'ascendeurs' ) and arguably the best-known make - with multiple variants - is Petzl.
I've owned and used a pair of these for decades, for clearing leaf debris/moss from my roof and occasionally for boaty tasks. IMO it is prudent to practice how to come back down again 'in a dignified manner' and a visit to one's local climbing wall for a wee bit of instruction would not go amiss.

And, on a slightly different tack, I'll just pop this pic on here. Just to initiate some comment, informed or not:

Those aren't jumars, that's a via ferret lanyard which is not for climbing rope.

 

[andrewAB]

I carry climbing harness and ascenders. Also know to use a prusdick loops.

Tore the head off a #3 headsail, anchored in shelter of headland, then hauled a ltigjt line up with the main halyard and retrieved the heafsail halyard. Then was only a 8m mast, but I've used the same on my current 15m mast.

 

[KompetentKrew]

I did it once, the mainsail halyard had tangled up the mast and I still had several hundred miles to go.

… I had to go up the mast at 3am in the Solent a couple of years ago when at the end of a solo race back from France, it emerged that my main halyard had come off the sheave and jammed down the side. I toyed with idea of heading into Hamble with the main up but decided it was simpler to go up quickly and cut the halyard. Technique is basically the same as in harbour, although I add a climbing helmet, and the other essential for peace of mind is a remote for the autopilot

So you guys have steps up your masts? Because my technique when I'm in harbour is for someone to haul me up using the mainsail halyard.

 

[KompetentKrew]

Cole Brauer Ocean is a Facebook page of Cole Bauer and she races as well as cruises onboard a yacht. She has videos of her single handed and climbing the mast at sea, posted recently.


Cole Brauer Climbing Mast Sola At Sea Video

Link isn't working

 

[Roberto]

So you guys have steps up your masts? Because my technique when I'm in harbour is for someone to haul me up using the mainsail halyard.

I have no steps, I use harness + jumar + grigri. There were some waves, I went up stuffed in several layers of shirts trousers etc like a Michelin tyre puppet, plus boots etc still I had a number of bruises when I came down, in particular on the thigh insides as I tried to stay attached to the mast with the legs. After that I bought a rugby cap should I have to do it again, movements/accelerations are very abrupt, once you get near a set of spreaders the shroud wires converge and it s easy to be slammed against them. With hindsight, it's probably a lot better to sail the boat with a steady angle of heel and climb more upside down, rather than while it's mainly upright but it rolls. I confess it took me several hours defore deciding to go up, rather than the loss of speed the deciding factor was heavy weather coming, I wanted to be able to choose to use/not use the mainsail (I did not use it but that is another story )

 

[LittleSister]

Use the topping lift to raise the boom and effectively put the sail out of action.

The topping lift, or if you don't have one, the genoa or spinnaker halyard, or whatever.

I'm open to the idea that there may have been alternative solutions - exhaustion may have played a part in my decision making process!

Just to be clear, I wasn't criticising your decision making or actions at all, just reminding people there's sometimes alternative solutions. (Sometimes there ain't!)