Who has tested their " cut the rig" tools?

[TLouth7]

Does anyone else not carry any dedicated tools for cutting away a rig? I understand the need for racers with delicate, bendy masts or offshore sailors but surely most of us will never experience such an event?

Obviously I don't have access to good statistics but anecdotally rig failure is an extremely low likelihood hazard. I strongly suspect that spending the cost of an angle grinder on a PLB would have far greater benefit (and take up less space). Keeping an insufficient lookout is known to be a major cause of fatal accidents so perhaps spending more on attracting crew would pay dividends.

 

[Roberto]

Thanks for all the response. I think the main point of my post was to get folk thinking about the problem, ideally trying out their planned methods on some scrap rigging- wire or bottle screws or whatever. Knocking out various clevis pins sounds the easiest option. Some would be very simple and under no load. Others would probably be under huge loads.
I think the "recover the rig" argument is very dependent upon proximity to land- or assistance , weather and how many crew you have on board. Two up, well offshore with bad weather I would think of cutting it loose if need be. It takes 3 or 4 bods to move it on land in a quiet yard....
It is NOT common to lose masts, but it has and will happen again somewhere. Think about how you might cope?

Another option is getting a light alloy boat, that seems to leave plenty of time to choose how to get rid of the mast and rigging.
The picture has been taken a few days ago by a NZL SAR plane, the boat is an aluminium Maracuja, being singlehanded RTW: she had been rolled during a storm a few 00s miles from New Zealand, remained upside down for 5 minutes, then righted again but was dismasted. Huge seas meant he had to wait the following day before getting rid of mast boom and rigging, which kept on banging on the hull. He eventually succeeded (not known how, so far). Seas were about 3m when the plane took the picture, he does not appear to be thrown all over the place.
He was rescued by a cargo ship heading to Punta Arenas, Chile, I think he is still on the underway cargo right now.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I think people would prefer we took our rubbish home, where possible. Especially in shallow water where people may be dredging or trawling.

Many of us sail in waters where there are narrow, busy channels in shallow water. Leaving a rig abandoned in such waters is probably going to result in someone else getting a wire in their propellor or a spar through their hull! That said, in such waters, a dismasting would be a Mayday.

It's one of the situations where I can imagine that the millions of third party insurance that we all carry (don't we?) might actually be necessary. The main ship channels round the Orwell are only about 15m deep; a yacht's rig could easily get caught in the screw of a container vessel which would require an underwater inspection and potentially a dry-docking. Lost ship time is extremely costly!

 

[GHA]

IMHO this is like emergency/rescue kit. Look at how to cut it away only after you've done everything practical and realistic to stop the mast falling down in the first place..

 

[pagoda]

Just tried a cutting disc / grinder on the old forestay (8mm dyform) Took 12 seconds with little pressure. Nice clean cut.

 

[scotty123]

Just tried a cutting disc / grinder on the old forestay (8mm dyform) Took 12 seconds with little pressure. Nice clean cut.

Just tried a cutting disc / grinder on the old forestay (8mm dyform) Took 12 seconds with little pressure. Nice clean cut.

Would it work at sea?

 

[RJJ]

Does anyone else not carry any dedicated tools for cutting away a rig? I understand the need for racers with delicate, bendy masts or offshore sailors but surely most of us will never experience such an event?

Obviously I don't have access to good statistics but anecdotally rig failure is an extremely low likelihood hazard. I strongly suspect that spending the cost of an angle grinder on a PLB would have far greater benefit (and take up less space). Keeping an insufficient lookout is known to be a major cause of fatal accidents so perhaps spending more on attracting crew would pay dividends.

Risk management is about probability and magnitude. Magnitude of dismasting is large, and very large if far offshore and short-handed. Probability can be managed by prudent rig maintenance and careful choice of weather - the latter being , again, harder to control for when sailing outside the reliable weather forecast.

Where that leaves us? Like everything, you have to try harder if you're going further offshore. If you pootle around the Solent in max F4 and your rigging is set up right, I would agree that probability is negligibly small and why bother.

Garuda was dismasted on the ARC. They lost a rod shroud to crevice corrosion. Reading about the incident left me uncertain as to whether it might have been avoided (e.g. by identifying the crevice, by setting the rig up better, or by replacing the rigging at the required interval). Bet they were glad

Would it work at sea?

Battery or mains?

 

[Muddy32]

Battery operated tools have become more available and cheaper over the last few years. I use the cutter for many tasks and charge the batteries regularly. Easy when in coastal waters cruising and access to a/c current and also if well offshore I am likely to have a generator to run up at least once a week. Just needs a routine.

The previous suggested tools in inventories were when we still had heavy wooden masts. Things change.

 

[Graham376]

I carry cable cutters and yes I've tested and they do cut 10mm rigging OK. 600mm overall length, similar to this but unbranded -

Eclipse ECC16 Cable Cutter 24 Inch / 600mm

 

[pagoda]

It was a mains one as I have not purchased a cordless version. (yet?) With care and 2 batteries of the lithium persuasion I can't see any great problem of one as a back-up?
I watched a motorcycle disc-security lock removed. Took well over 5 minutes through hardened steels. Cordless is still powerful enough.
plan?

Remove clevis pins if possible, Wire cut wire / hacksaw bottlescrews etc in perhaps that order?

 

[penberth3]

I carry cable cutters and yes I've tested and they do cut 10mm rigging OK. 600mm overall length, similar to this but unbranded -

Eclipse ECC16 Cable Cutter 24 Inch / 600mm

If anyone's buying similar, do be aware that "cable cutters" are usually for electrical cable, not wire rope.

 

[Graham376]

If anyone's buying similar, do be aware that "cable cutters" are usually for electrical cable, not wire rope.

Have you read the spec on the one I linked to? Max. Cutting Capacity: 16mm wire rope, and up to 21mm armoured cable

 

[Norman_E]

Does anyone else not carry any dedicated tools for cutting away a rig? I understand the need for racers with delicate, bendy masts or offshore sailors but surely most of us will never experience such an event?

Obviously I don't have access to good statistics but anecdotally rig failure is an extremely low likelihood hazard. I strongly suspect that spending the cost of an angle grinder on a PLB would have far greater benefit (and take up less space). Keeping an insufficient lookout is known to be a major cause of fatal accidents so perhaps spending more on attracting crew would pay dividends.

It may be a rare event on cruising boats sailing close to land, but its not unknown. I have seen a cruising yacht of about 40 feet come into Marmaris after being dismasted. It was I think a Beneteau Oceanis model. It lost its mast not because of a storm but because a shroud rigging screw broke. The crew had cut away the rig, though what method they used I don't know.

 

[RJJ]

If the mast goes over, does it break off cleanly? Or is it left partially attached at deck or spreader level, leaving us rig-snippers with another tough challenge, potentially 20 feet up with no halyard to climb on?

 

[penberth3]

Have you read the spec on the one I linked to? Max. Cutting Capacity: 16mm wire rope, and up to 21mm armoured cable

You obviously did, a lot of people don't.