Solo mast climbing

[Cafemino]

Hi,

I am planning to solo climb the mast on my Hanse 320, however I have read that you should not use any halyard for the climb that goes through the mast foot blocks. Is this correct? as all my halyards go through these first then onto the cockpit cleats.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Cafemino

Hi,

I am planning to solo climb the mast on my Hanse 320, however I have read that you should not use any halyard for the climb that goes through the mast foot blocks. Is this correct? as all my halyards go through these first then onto the cockpit cleats.

Not sure why anyone would say that. In many ways, it is the head block that is most critical (I know of one case where the axle failed, the rope dropped on the mast edge, and cut). What is critical is that you use TWO halyards, because they've been in the sun and both the halyards and every block is suspect. The ends must be securely belayed, not just in self-tailers.

[flee27]

How do you climb the mast solo, and use a winch, and have the lines tailed??? Now thats talented...

Foster

[rbk]

mechanical ascenders can cause premature wear on rope, prusiks not nearly as much. You can always attach a dedicated climbing/tag line (working load appropriate) and run up that instead of your halyard. As Thinwater said make sure they are in good shape and always have a safety line.

[Cafemino]

thinwater, do you mean by head blocks - mast base blocks? Thats what I'm worried about these failing especially the pins.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by flee27

How do you climb the mast solo, and use a winch, and have the lines tailed??? Now thats talented...

Foster

Read up on acenders, Top Climber, Mastmate, etc. There are many ways, and they don't use winches.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Cafemino

thinwater, do you mean by head blocks - mast base blocks? Thats what I'm worried about these failing especially the pins.

The blocks the halyards go over at the top. Depending on the layout, if they fail the rope can drop onto a sharp edge.


The point is, use two halyards.

[Mike OReilly]

I've been using the ATN Topclimber for years now. It's basically a climbers acender with a nice bosuns chair tied in. It can be used solo, although I much prefer having someone on deck belaying a safety line.

I hoist a dedicated low-stretch line when I climb the mast, but I could just climb a halyard.

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by Cafemino

solo climb the mast .... I have read that you should not use any halyard for the climb that goes through the mast foot blocks.

It is certainly best to keep things as simple as possible to minimize failure possibilities. If you can secure those halyards above the mast base blocks it would be nice - possibly tie them off to something. If not, well mast base blocks are usually not a huge risk because you can do a pretty good visual inspection of them.

Many people like to pull a dedicated climbing line up and climb that. Again it is ideal to have that climbing line be long enough to completely replace the halyard - because it will not have sailing wear on it, you can inspect every inch, and it will be the exact right size and cover for whatever climbing hardware you use. But if not, it is also not a huge risk. If you join a climbing line to the halyard and just pull it to the top - make absolutely sure the join knots are perfect and secured and that the halyard looks good on all sections that you can inspect.

I personally prefer the "gri-gri" method, but there are a lot of hardware configurations that work fine. Just make sure you practice the transition from going up to coming down because that can be a little awkward with some techniques.