Stuck shackle!

[ashtead]

pleased it all worked out . With a light mast you would think you could take the weight in a higher mast to assist in lowering down if all else fails using some form of loading strap as a strop .

 

[William_H]

Almost anywhere away from the mast and spreaders in fact

Mine wont reach the boom end so it goes round the boom just behind the kicker shacked on to itself.

Funny thing I have always attached jib halyard and spin halyard to the spin pole ring (snotter) I do however always leave halyards very loose so no banging on he mast. Often found around the tip of the spreader. The main sail ahlyard always remains attached to the top of the main again quite loose.


A friend of mine borrowed a 20 ft squib to do an open meeting a Lowestoft. His crew let the spinnaker halyard go so they went to the quayside to retrieve it. they pulled on the main halyard to get the mast nearer to the quay wall. The mast broke & my friend had to wear the "Dick of the Week" jacket which he found more embarrassing than paying for the new mast.
The point of this is ( in case someone suggests it) that with a small fractional rigged boat be very careful if you try to pull the mast tip over to a wall to retrieve a halyard by pulling on the topping lift or main halyard. A squib is quite light & a small cruiser is probably a lot stiffer & may put more strain on the mast. Consider carefully where on the mast you pull from ie perhaps from the lower hounds as well as from the upper shroud point to distribute the load. Someone on the side deck to help tip the boat would also help

I can not understand this mast break. I think something else must have been wrong or failed. Our club do night races and for smaller boats to qualify they must prove self righting. This involves a pull down test. This requires the bow and stern to be attached between jetties then the boat is pulled down by hauling on a halyard right down to horizontal. A load cell is used then to measure the force required to hold it at 90 degrees. It takes a lot of pulling on a halyard to get the boat over especially around 45 degrees. We have done this on my boat (fractional) and maybe 6 other boats up to about 25 ft.
Certainly no concern about mast failure. Indeed I am sure on my little boat with 4 people on the gunwhale and a stiff wind when over powered the loads on the rigging are far more than the pull down test. A mast and rigging just has to be able to take it. I reckon your friend deserves an apology. olewill

 

[Corribee Boy]

Good Result!