This has probably been done to death, but what do you use to up the stick?

Tomahawk

Tomahawk

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 Sep 2010
Messages
19,168
Location
Where life is good
Visit site
Apopros, the recent accident in Conwy, it seems good to ask, what do you use to go up the stick?

I have a Petzl climbing harness. I use an ascender and GriGri to go up. Then remove the ascender and slide down using the GriGri. I always use a halyard, (spectra) that goes from inside to outside the mast, (no fear of a block parting and dropping me). I lock the clutch then put the tail round the winch and tie it off. Separately I have a second halyard (spectra again) as a safety line with a Petzl Stop. Again the safety line is clutched and tied off. Although I don't rely on anyone I ask for someone to watch over just in case.

Still gives me the willies. But the view is lovely once I get upstairs.
 
I have a footrest with a cam cleat on it. Plus an ascender. So I climb a fixed halyard. The halyard is winched tight, so it's very easy to climb using leg power.
I always have someone tailing a winch with a second halyard as a safety.
I normally come down on the 'safety' halyard eased by the person on deck. This is perhaps not ideal as I only have the ascender as backup coming down.
I do have a petzl descender, but it's not right for halyard rope in general.
 
I never ask anyone to do anything I would not do myself and certainly would not pay anyone, to do something I could do myself. If Joe Brown could lead in Patagonia into his 70's I have a good few years to go. But I do enjoy mast work (part of my enjoyment is the aversion others have to heights).

Ascendeurs?, ascender? 2 stirrups, a climbing harness on a safety halyard - and usually I'm dropped down using the safety halyard attached to the harness. The halyard I use to go up is secured to a fitting at the mast base and then tensioned on a winch and further secured with a clutch. All halyards, inside to outside, are dyneema. Once I arrive at the comfortable height at which to work, a spreader or the crane, I tie myself independently with a short strop (dyneema) attached to the harness. I make liberal use of carabiners to secure short strop to harness.

I only do mast work at anchor or on our swing mooring - I can only curse the delight some have of generating wash. My technique needs 2 people, someone on deck to damage the safety line.

Further line from waist to deck for all the things I inevitably forget - or did not realise I would need. Communication is by shouting - maybe we should invest in something more 21st Century.

Jonathan
 
I tend to just go up on a single halyard winched by willing crew, tied (not using the shackle) to a climbing sit harness. I am wary of any backup that would leave me stranded at the top of the mast in the event of knocking myself out (I think this is more likely than a halyard snapping). An ascender on a fixed halyard with enough tail to lower all the way down would avoid this issue.

The easiest I have ever had it was actually at sea; the boat was heeled putting the mast at an angle, and the main was up so I could get some purchase on the luff slides to help with climbing. The motion was pretty exciting though, and I probably would not have wanted to spend a long time at the top or do anything fiddly.
 
I wear a harness, with crutch straps, attached to one halyard with a doubled figure of 8. This is my back-up.

I then sit in a Plastimo bosun's chair (that is 5 years old, and stowed inside when not in use), attached to a second halyard.

Both halyards go fore and aft through the masthead, so I'm not relying on the state of one block.

I love going up masts (love the views), though I've never tried it underway, which, I can imagine, adds greatly to the fun.
 
I use a "Magi-Mât", a ladder of webbing steps that uses the main track and is hoisted on the main halyard. As I sail alone most of the time and usually maintain alone I just climb this without a safety line - I have tried to manage an extra line but it just creates more fankle than help and increases the time to climb hugely. My only problem is that I can't actually get my head above the mast crane without leaving the security of my back against the back stay - fine for one-handed ops like re-reeving halyards, changing bulbs, removing wind gear, even replacing standing rigging, but resoldering wires is beyond me. Leaning back on a waist strap is well outside my comfort zone.

Is it safe? For you, probably not, but as long as my arthritic knees allow me to get my foot onto the next rung I will carry on. Mind you, the mast is lying under cover on trestles at the moment with brand new stays and shrouds and I don't plan to climb it next year.
 
I use an ordinary bosun's chair on the main halyard. This passes through the deck clutch and to a self-tailing jib winch. The angle is not idea but with care a riding turn can be avoided. In any case, I use the topping-lift as back-up. This also passes through a clutch and can be winched if necessary. Both lines are attached with their shackles rather than the approved knots, but I am confident that doubling up is secure enough.

I go up annually. We take it slowly, and my wife can winch my 10st reasonably easily. Coming down we also take slowly, because I am usually washing down the mast with sponge and bucket. We sometimes accept help but I always insist on my wife being in charge, hoping that I am under-insured.
 
I too often use the shackles on the halyards.
I tape them with insulating tape, so they are not going to come undone accidentally.
 
Tomahawk said:
Apopros, the recent accident in Conwy, it seems good to ask, what do you use to go up the stick?

I have a Petzl climbing harness. I use an ascender and GriGri to go up. Then remove the ascender and slide down using the GriGri. I always use a halyard, (spectra) that goes from inside to outside the mast, (no fear of a block parting and dropping me). I lock the clutch then put the tail round the winch and tie it off. Separately I have a second halyard (spectra again) as a safety line with a Petzl Stop. Again the safety line is clutched and tied off. Although I don't rely on anyone I ask for someone to watch over just in case.

Still gives me the willies. But the view is lovely once I get upstairs.
Click to expand...

Is it not a bit of a pita descending with both a Grigri and a Stop? Better using a Shunt or modern equivalent and ditch the Stop.
 
I also use the shackle on the halyard with the bosun's chair, after the halyard has been tied to the chair as a failsafe. The shackle is in front of me, so I see it all the time. It has never opened of itself in many hundreds of days under sail, so why would it when hoisting me aloft?
 
A Topclimber. Allows me to get above the top of the mast, solo.

Despite taking all obvious precautions, I am thinking of sliding a Prusik knot up and down a second halyard (topping lift, anyway) as I go, as an emergency backup in future.

I am not great with heights and my stomach is in my mouth when I'm up there. It's a duty beforehand, an achievement afterwards, but sadly for me, never yet a pleasure.

https://topclimberinternational.com
 
To get to the masthead I've used a pair of climbing ascenders with stirrups and a traditional-style (wooden plank) bosun's chair, then transferred to a figure-8 on a separate rope to come back down. This was backed up by a fall-arrest harness on a separate line tailed from the deck. It was all bloody hard work though, and I think in future I might well get one of the (formerly Defee, now apparently Kinleven) mast ladders.

To replace my radar last winter I just leaned a 3-section extension ladder against the spreader, which was much more comfortable and secure especially since I needed to get up and down multiple times. I took the plastic end caps off the feet and made wooden ones of two different lengths to match the curve of the deck, placed on a rubber mat and also lashed in place to avoid any slipping. I lashed the top to the spreader on my first trip up.

Pete
 
afterpegassus said:
Is it not a bit of a pita descending with both a Grigri and a Stop? Better using a Shunt or modern equivalent and ditch the Stop.
Click to expand...

Yes it is a bit of bother having two lines in front of me.. But the feeling of comfort is worthwhile. The stop tends to simply roll down the rope. I use the GriGri as a clutch/brake to control speed. The stop goes up and down the spare rope with minimum friction.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top