Climbing the Mast? - 13 Tips to Keep you Lucky

'I don’t like it up here!' .

Checking your own mast before setting out on a sea voyage is like checking your own parachute before you jump. You can omit it or leave it to someone else, but it's too late to blame anyone when you've taken the fast way to the ground, or your mast is busily digging a hole in your hull.

So assuming that it's a job that must be done, and you are the one who must do it, here are the 13 Tips to Make Sure You - and your Luck - Hold Up

1.Use a safety line as well as your hoisting line. If you've ever seen a sailor fall from the top of a mast, break his back and waste a young life, you won't need this piece of advice. Fortunately, this doesn't happen often enough to make it into a lesson for most people. Just DO it.

2.Wear some kind clothing or apron with good pockets which are easy to reach once you're up there. Carry a knife and extra tools - you don't want to have to come down and go up any more than necessary.

3.Wear protective clothing to guard against injury from a rocking mast. A life vest is a good idea. Use a helmet, (will be particularly important in a bad sea).

4.Wear strong flat bottomed shoes, hard soled scuba boots or deck sandals.

5.There are many different ideas on the best tackle to use to go aloft, but the bosun's chair is the traditional one. Make sure it is of good quality, that the stitching and fabric are not worn or UV affected and that it has a seat that you find comfortable.

6.Use rope not wire, to increase shock absorbtion in the system.

7.To attach the lifting halyard, use a knot rather than a snap shackle and then use the snap shackle as a back-up. Then tape up the snap shackle.

8.Practice climbing in a marina or at quiet anchor, then practice it again when anchored in a swell.

Essential before going to sea - .. .

9.Get used to using hand signals - if you ever have to do it at sea, you may not be able to hear each other.

10.Test the set-up - this varies according to the type of lifting method - maybe by climbing up two or three feet, then jump and come down hard three or four times.

11. If you have one, use the electric windlass. You may have to experiment to get the angles right and run the line through a snatch block to make it work, but it will make the journey up a lot easier for the person who is lifting you.

12.Clip your harness on tightly to a second tight halyard so that you cannot swing away from the mast, particularly important if in a bad sea.

13.Investigate both mast steps and a mast climber, both of which have their uses according to the individual boats and preferences. Both of these give more independence and self-control, but both need to be considered in the light of secondary safety measures.

by Des Ryan