Climbing the mast

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Created by

Seebreasy73 > 9 months ago, 18 Oct 2018

Kankama

NSW

791 posts

23 Oct 2018 8:56am

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Ramona said..
Just a note on climbing harnesses. They can be dangerous if you spend too much time in them suspended up a mast. woko's seat and Gerards idea alleviates this problem.

On the Golden Globe races Facebook this morning we have this:

????? ???????? IGOR spent four hours up his mast repairing the forestay now completed. He thought he may die up there as the sea built up. When he came down he could hardly move his hands and feet so rested for a day with many bruises. He is now looking forward to making progress to the east but worries he may have to go up the mast again?? #GGR2018

I'm sure he would have had a comfortable seat but don't spend too much time up a mast solo if you are using a climbing harness.

I prefer my climbing harness to a bosuns chair and you are right about it being uncomfortable after a while. The guys at the local climbing gym use an old fashioned plank of wood on rope bosuns chair as well. It rests below the small of your back. You are nice and secure in the climbing harness while ascending and then when you get to a spot you pull yourself into the seat for comfort.

Cav30

NSW

121 posts

23 Oct 2018 9:14am

I went up our mast for the first time the other day. I used the chair as in Wokos pic and was quite happy for almost an hour and half. There is no way you can sit in a climbing harness for that long. You would lose circulation to your legs.
I believe the chair is Burke brand and has the advantage of side pockets for tools and wot knots.

My friend hoisted me up on a cabin top winch which was somewhat undersized but I monkey crawled a bit on my way up to assist.

I had the main halyard attatched to the chair and the topping lift attatched to a saftey harness (aka climbing harness).

Both ropes were regularly tensioned and cleated off securely.

shaggybaxter

QLD

2661 posts

23 Oct 2018 8:55am

Yep, I've had two near misses on my old boat with climbing harnesses. Both times, the climber started to feel nauseous and light headed after some 45 mins or so, and had to be brought down. I was one of them, it was weird, It was like a slow creep of feeling a bit off, then quite quickly I started to get really crook. The symptoms persisted for a while after you were down too, it was quite scary.

Stuck with a Bosuns chair after that!

garymalmgren

1365 posts

23 Oct 2018 7:10am

Woko
A couple of questions.
Is that rig your mainsheet?
I know you have a shorter Gaff rigged mast, but at 5 times the mast height and more, how long is the line on the rig?

gary

cisco

QLD

12364 posts

23 Oct 2018 10:39am

Hanging in a harness with strops around your groin can kill you in as little as 30 minutes.
It was a topic discussed at an industrial safety induction I went to where they talked about fall arresting harhesses.

woko

NSW

1770 posts

23 Oct 2018 4:03pm

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garymalmgren said..
Woko
A couple of questions.
Is that rig your mainsheet?
I know you have a shorter Gaff rigged mast, but at 5 times the mast height and more, how long is the line on the rig?

gary

Gary, it's a dedicated climbing rig I found it securely stowed away after we purchased the old girl, and when done with it I carefully coil the 50m of line ( that's all that's required for a stumpy little 10m mast) lightly oil the blocks put the coil and the nice sorta comfy Burke chair with its pockets for dodads ( nicely picked cav30 ) in its bag and stow it right back where I found it.
ps: regarding solo : unless your just climbing to get a better view, your gunna need that thing you left on the deck !

shaggybaxter

QLD

2661 posts

23 Oct 2018 4:25pm

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woko said..

Or it's that tool you don't bother putting a lanyard on...
...and have butter fingers.

rumblefish

TAS

824 posts

25 Oct 2018 6:05pm

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woko said..
This is the tackle that I climb with, you can haul yourself up without too much effort just sitting in the chair or you can sort of reverse abseil and walk / shuffle up. The blocks are just laced but Brion toss shows deferent right angle reevings that offer less friction as the blocks close on each other. This arangment came with the boat I replaced the plywood seat with a nice new sorta compfy job.
double dipping on topics, what I'm doing on my boat today is re oiling mast and spars while I have the main off

Can I ask how you tie yourself off? What happens if the rope slips through your hands?

Seebreasy73

QLD

334 posts

25 Oct 2018 7:26pm

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rumblefish said..

Can I ask how you tie yourself off? What happens if the rope slips through your hands?

you gotta have a back up even if it is just a belt thrown around the mast

woko

NSW

1770 posts

26 Oct 2018 8:34pm

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rumblefish said..

Can I ask how you tie yourself off? What happens if the rope slips through your hands?

I just tie a hitch in the hauling line around the bottom of the lower block that keeps me where I need to be, could add a Jammer of some sort. As for the rope slipping through your hands it's not really an issue because of the friction of the blocks decent is resonably tame, actually the higher up the mast you are the less inclined the rig is to letting you decend

Jolene

1622 posts

26 Oct 2018 6:31pm

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woko said..

rumblefish said..

Can I ask how you tie yourself off? What happens if the rope slips through your hands?

Used the same system, just tie a prusik to the tail of the tackle and attach to your chair or harness. Then you just slide the prusik up the tail as you haul yourself up. If you let the tail go,,, the prusiks got it

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