Wednesday seemed like a good day to get high... When I left the boat last year, I hauled my new halyards up the mast with cheap retrieval lines so they would be out of the sun while I was gone. This protected the line, but a couple of my retrieval lines did not survive. Consequentially, two of my halyards were up the mast and I needed to climb up and get them down. I also had two new radar reflectors to install, so figured I would get as much of this done in one trip up as possible.
There are a few methods of climbing up the mast. Some people have steps installed up the mast, so it is a little like climbing a steep ladder. Convenient, but it adds windage and weight aloft. The more common way is to attach a seat (a bosun's chair) to one of the halyards and have someone crank you up using one of the winches on deck. This is a workout for the person cranking, but works well. A third way is to use a climbing harness and prusik cords to climb up the rope directly. Whatever method you use, it is prudent to have a safety line in case the halyard you are using fails in some way (it is disturbing how many people don't use a safety/backup line).
I opted for prusik cords because it is a method I can use by myself. I attached my prusik cords to the jib halyard rope - one for my feet and one attached to my waist harness. This is done with a special knot that grips the rope when under tension, but can slide when the tension is released. Imagine an inch work climbing a rope... You stand up in the foot prusik, slide the waist prusik up, then sit down on your waist harness and slide the foot prusik up. Once you get the hang of it, it is not difficult and you make fairly good progress up the rope.
Common Prusik Knot
One of my neighbors came by to give me a hand. He had never used a prusik and was curious to see how it worked. Before I started up, I set up one of my spinnaker halyards to use as a safety line. I used a mechanical device called an ascender which is attached to the rope and has a cam device that grips onto the rope. It slides freely in one direction and grabs on in the other. While climbing up the jib halyard, I slide this device up the spinnaker halyard as a backup to the jib halyard. It is also clipped into my harness.
A good illustration of what prusiking looks like... Before starting out, I attached a bag with tools and other materials in it to carry up with me. The new radar reflector was also attached. Once I was ready, I started inching my way up. I probably get about 18" each cycle in the process.
My first stop was the new radar reflector. Radar reflectors increase the radar image your boat returns to other boats and makes you more visible. I had been looking at how other boats had theirs installed. Mine tends to swing around and sometimes bangs on the mast. I saw several boats with the radar reflectors mounted on the shrouds above the spreader. This looked like a better way. As I was doing this, I realized I needed a pair of pliers to straighten a cotter pin... Fortunately, I had a bag with a line that I lowered to my friend. He picked up what I needed and placed it in the bag. I hauled it up and got back to work. The rest of the installation went fine and I think it will work well in this location. I'll move the other one the next time I go up the mast.
Next up was halyard retrieval. I inched farther up the mast to the Staysail halyard. I started pulling it out while my friend made sure the line ran free. After he secured the halyard to the deck, I started working on the running backstays. These are lines on either side of the mast near where the staysail halyard is located. They are used when the staysail is up to counter the forward pull from the staysail. Though not needed in lighter air, when it is blowing they provide support to the mast. The lower end attaches at the toerail somewhere near the cockpit.
Finally, I headed up to the top of the mast the retrieve the main halyard. Same process as before. Once that was done, I headed down.
After hanging in the sun from a rope for a couple of hours, I was ready for a break. I spent the rest of the day doing some cabin cleanup and other small projects.
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