Less awful Mast Climbing

Pretty cool video showing how the various pieces of climbing gear can be used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFagzKDp2c0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcUmdGIf21o

A counterpoint to that, an explanation of prussik knots and their use as ascenders.    DIY!

https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/prusik-types/

Summary- it appears that the heart of this 

• 2 ascenders  (one for harness, one for foot/feet)
• 1 foot loop/aider or similar.  This could probably be optimized for boat use as weight and bulk is less of an issue than for climbing gear. (Hence the atn mastclimber)
• 1 climbing harness or bosun's chair  
• 1 means to haul up tethered tools etc  (storage bag double as tool bag, clip to chair/harness)

Other - 

• means to secure to mast, 
• third ascender to secure to second line as a safety  
• helmet
• Locking Carabiners as required

Update

Many recommend the ATN mastclimber.

The sailrite folks do a very good job of explaining things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij-_ZEPsI6Y

Here's a link Bob sent on the subject as well.

https://l-36.com/UltimateMastClimbing.php

and another article.

https://www.oceannavigator.com/mast-climbing-techniques/

Good explanation here -

How to climb a mast solo at sea - Yachting Monthly - YouTube

Original Post:

I've been up the mast a few times and didn't enjoy it much.  I'm not abnormally fearful, just that the method was ad hoc and cumbersome.   In a recent discussion online Marek piqued my curiosity after a brief discussion of HIS method, employing climbing gear.  I asked for and he provided a great deal of information.  See below.  Thanks Marek!

 Dave,

 

I use climbing ascenders. Something like this: https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5059-983/Croll-Chest-Ascender-L?colour=NOC02 (I bought them at MEC, but any better sporting goods store should have them; REI?).

 

You also need a harness (e.g., https://www.mec.ca/en/product/6005-234/Momentum-Harness?colour=KIN01). I believe in climbing harnesses (as opposed to bosun’s chair) as I find them more flexible and easier to move around in them (the bosun’s chair can be quite cumbersome when you are aloft). However, if you plan to spend hours aloft, it is quite important how comfortable you can stay there.

 

You need one ascender for your harness, and another for your leg loop. A simple webbing loop would do. A climbing one might have an advantage of being more pliable. If you want to be really efficient, you may want to tie the leg loop to your foot. A simple knot dividing the loop into a footstep and the rest is sufficient. The idea is that the foot should stay in the loop, even if the loop is not tensioned. You will have to experiment with the optimal length of the foot loop.

 

This works in a similar way to the mast climbing gear from ATN. A good review of similar aids is here: https://www.sailmagazine.com/diy/four-ways-to-climb-a-mast-solo.

 

If you have the above and you also have someone to help you:

• Put your harness on
• Cleat the halyard 1 (e.g. main) fast; make sure that it is tensioned as much as you can.
• Put the two ascenders on the halyard
• Attach the harness to the upper ascender; attach the foot loop to the lower one
• Move the harness ascender up, as far as you can reach
• Move the foot ascender up
• Lift yourself on the foot
• Move your harness ascender up
• Continue…

 

This way you would be moving along the tightened halyard in a caterpillar fashion.

 

To help to stabilise yourself to the mast, have an extra loop that runs around the mast. This will prevent swinging around the mast (and even more so, away from the mast). You will need to detach it when moving around the spreaders.

 

The extra person uses the second halyard (jib?) to keep you from falling (if anything fails). She does not need to winch you up; rather, she only needs to keep that line taut.

 

For working at the very top, I use a couple of aiders: (e.g., https://www.mec.ca/en/product/4013-156/Pocket-Aider?colour=YLW00; this one is better: https://www.amazon.ca/Climbing-Ascender-Ladder-Webbing-Mountaineering/dp/B08BK535YP/ref=asc_df_B08BK535YP/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459263885007&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17567931716224138960&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9000686&hvtargid=pla-993459144409&psc=1 because it does not pinch your feet). They allow you to stand up in them (as opposed to hanging in your harness) and to have your head and torso above the top of the mast.

 

If you have to do it solo (and I often do), you need a third ascender. The idea is that instead of having your partner belaying you on the second halyard, you use the 3^rd ascender on the second halyard. This is your safety.

 

NB. Never use shackles for connecting to the halyard – always use knots. Never use spinnaker halyard (hanging off the mast crane); use only halyards that go through the mast (eliminates any dangers of failing blocks). Always inspect both halyards before you use them. Never trust your life to a single rope. All carabiners that you will use for this exercise have to be the safety type (with a lock).

 

The aiders mentioned above are also useful when climbing the mast. Instead of the foot loop, use one of those and climb a few steps, then move your harness ascender up, and then move the aider up.

 

It gets easier with practice.

A couple of words of caution, if you are planning to use climbing gear to ascend the mast:

 

- many ascenders have little teeth to provide the grip. These teeth can damage the rope. I would not use them on my halyards. If you want to use those, replace the halyard with a different rope that you would use only for climbing the mast. 

 

- if you are planning to abseil from the top of the mast using any of the climbing devices, again, don’t use the halyard. Abseiling a few times down the line will make the line very stiff. Not to mention that climbing ropes are usually much softer than what we use for halyards, so using a climbing rope would work much better.

 

Marek

 

 

Good luck

 

Marek