A trip up the mast

Going up the mast of a 50′ sailboat is no small feat, especially in temperatures hovering around -5. So when Kolby was taking down the Christmas lights and the zap straps broke, leaving the halyard at the top of the mast, Kristine wasn’t particularly interested in retrieving it. Luckily for her, her brother was around and willing to go up.

Yep it’s way up there. Typically we use a standard boson’s chair (super uncomfortable for longer jobs) and two halyards. However, because our second haylard was at the top of the mast, this time Kolby had the idea to use a jackline tether to clip the boson chair to the stays. That way should the haylard break, the person can only fall as far as the next spreader. Not ideal, not seems better than hitting the deck.

Well nothing broke and the views from the top were spectacular. Too bad we don’t have a crow’s nest!