That makes me curious of how it works. After all, if asked to go up a mast no part of my brain would have gone “how” and many parts would have gone “how do I run away?!?!?!”
I’ve had attacks trying to get up ladders and been shaking real bad, so there’s not much of a coordinated limbs mode left:(
@Breadbin Ok, so you see the thing I'm standing in, the rope round my foot? That's attached to the mast at my waist with a round turn and two half hitches. Unloaded it means I can slide it up and down, but if I load it (by standing up), it seizes.
I am wearing a climbing harness. The harness is tied into the mainsail halyard (the rope we normally use to raise the sail). When I stand up in my leg loop, it creates slack in the halyard, which @Zoe O'Connell then takes in on the winch (which is also ratcheted). Then when she has taken all the slack in, I unload the leg loop, slide it up, stand up and repeat, until I am at the top of the mast.
To get down, she has to release the ratchet and then slowly let the halyard run through the system, lowering me and using the friction in the system as a brake.
@Zoe O'Connell @Breadbin At the top, I am literally just dangling from the halyard,. I'm basically stuck there. The reason I still have my foot in the loop is so that I can weight my leg occasionally to avoid cramp.
@Breadbin @Zoe O'Connell I'm a mountaineer, so a mast is not all that much. Used to be scared of heights, but managed to train my brain out of it through exposure therapy. The first few times I went up there I felt a bit of a flutter. Now I feel nothing. My main fear was dropping my phone while taking the photos.
She wasn't going anywhere unless I let her, on account of the fact she was tied in (Which you can't trivially undo under load) and the other end of the rope was on the winch on deck.
@Eve (?), she/her (?) Boat is currently on south coast of England. Planning to bring her to Portugal later this year. She’s rated for up to 200 nautical miles offshore. You COULD cross an ocean in her, but you wouldn’t want to.
She has over 950kg of iron ballast in the keel to stop her tilting over when sailing whilst it would be possible, you’d need a very strong anchor point to do it and it wouldn’t be kind to the standing rigging.
Dropping the mast is another possibiiity but that’s complicated. Easier to climb it.
FraggleChick
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •Sarah Brown likes this.
Sarah Brown
in reply to FraggleChick • •Gen X-Wing
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •@fragglechick I’m terrified of heights and my body would have taken over at that point and I would have fallen:(
Stay safe!
Sarah Brown
in reply to Gen X-Wing • •Gen X-Wing
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •That makes me curious of how it works. After all, if asked to go up a mast no part of my brain would have gone “how” and many parts would have gone “how do I run away?!?!?!”
I’ve had attacks trying to get up ladders and been shaking real bad, so there’s not much of a coordinated limbs mode left:(
Also I’m real good at screwing stuff up:(
Sarah Brown
in reply to Gen X-Wing • •@Breadbin Ok, so you see the thing I'm standing in, the rope round my foot? That's attached to the mast at my waist with a round turn and two half hitches. Unloaded it means I can slide it up and down, but if I load it (by standing up), it seizes.
I am wearing a climbing harness. The harness is tied into the mainsail halyard (the rope we normally use to raise the sail). When I stand up in my leg loop, it creates slack in the halyard, which @Zoe O'Connell then takes in on the winch (which is also ratcheted). Then when she has taken all the slack in, I unload the leg loop, slide it up, stand up and repeat, until I am at the top of the mast.
To get down, she has to release the ratchet and then slowly let the halyard run through the system, lowering me and using the friction in the system as a brake.
Sarah Brown
in reply to Sarah Brown • •Gen X-Wing
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •@zoeimogen You are still infinitely more brave than me!
Thanks for the clarification.
Sarah Brown
in reply to Gen X-Wing • •Gen X-Wing
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •@zoeimogen You, are badass.
Could get a case with something to put around your wrist. Like a Wii controller:)
Sarah Brown
in reply to Gen X-Wing • •Zoe O'Connell
in reply to Gen X-Wing • •Sarah Brown
in reply to Zoe O'Connell • •Gen X-Wing
in reply to Zoe O'Connell • • •Madagascar_Sky
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •Sarah Brown likes this.
Eve (?), she/her (?), secret spooky romulan (?)
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •Sarah Brown likes this.
Sarah Brown
in reply to Eve (?), she/her (?), secret spooky romulan (?) • •Eve (?), she/her (?), secret spooky romulan (?)
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •Sarah Brown
in reply to Eve (?), she/her (?), secret spooky romulan (?) • •Eve (?), she/her (?), secret spooky romulan (?)
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •Nice! It'd be cool if you could just take her to the Azores whenevs, but that seems like it'd fall into "ocean crossing" territory.
You planning the trip over as a tour of the coasts of france and spain, or does the business of the channel compel something less magical?
Sarah Brown
in reply to Eve (?), she/her (?), secret spooky romulan (?) • •John Caveney woke is me🛠️
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •John Caveney woke is me🛠️
in reply to Sarah Brown • • •Sarah Brown likes this.
Zoe O'Connell
Unknown parent • •She has over 950kg of iron ballast in the keel to stop her tilting over when sailing whilst it would be possible, you’d need a very strong anchor point to do it and it wouldn’t be kind to the standing rigging.
Dropping the mast is another possibiiity but that’s complicated. Easier to climb it.
Sarah Brown
in reply to Zoe O'Connell • •Alexandra Lanes
in reply to Zoe O'Connell • • •