Demasting - not fun - too easy to happen

[jschrade]

We demasted on Saturday of the Easter weekend and that was the end of the weekend and we ended up with quite a bit of stuff bent on the mast, boom and a spreader.

Thank goodness we had finished putting the sails away as there was quite a bit of wind. My daughter was standing on the bow and saw the clevis pin shoot out and grabbed the furled Genoa to slow it down (she's a rather petite and no match the weight against her). The challenge was that the boom (as it was sheeted) would not allow the mast to come straight back where we had plenty of help to guide it onto the mast cradle in the back. This led to the mast going to port and the spreader got bent when it was caught up in the lifelines. We were bouncing around so this was a little crazy.

I am pretty certain that the clevis pin did not fail and am fairly certain that when retrieving the anchor that the line ripped the ring-ding out. With the proximity of this ring-ding and the anchor roller, I would be willing to bet we are not the 1st to experience this.

If you are new to this, it is critical that you tape or otherwise protect your ring-dings. I really do not get why these have the twist in the middle which simply acts as one of the most effective snags available. I should have been wise to the hazards of the ring-ding snags when the mainsheet snap one on the ring-dings on the mainsheet block dropping the mainsheet block on the deck.

After this incident we inspected all the ring-dings and noted that there were a couple on the stays that had been snagged by the Genoa sheet and needed replacing and subsequent taping to protect them. Not sure why these things are designed with a master line snagger integrated into them. Is there a reason that split-rings sort of like your car keys have is not used?

We will be tying off the Jib halyard as a backup to the forestay and considering a second forestay as demasting the Mac doesn't seem to be all that uncommon.

I hope this helps someone else avoid a demasting. The proximity of the anchor roller to the forestay clevis pin and ring-ding makes this one of those "just-waiting-to-happen" type of scenarios when anchoring. After inspecting my side-stays, it looks like the Genoa sheet yanking one of the ring-dings out of the side-stay is an easy one also.


Jim

[c130king]

After inspecting my side-stays, it looks like the Genoa sheet yanking one of the ring-dings out of the side-stay is an easy one also.

Jim,

Sorry to hear about your mast crashing. Hopefully you can get things fixed easily and inexpensively.

As for you statement on side-stays. I read about this on this site a few years ago and the recommendation was to stick the pins in so the ring-dings are on the inside and thus out of the way of the Genoa/Jib sheets. And this is what I do to the max extent possible. But with my very tight ring-dings this is not always easy to do and some of the times I have to turn it around and put the ring-ding on the outside so that I can get them in. When I do this I wrap some electrical tape around them.

I also have some PVC tubing to cover the stay adjusters but I find this is only marginally helpful as the sheets can get under the edges of the PVC and lift it up so that it is not covering.

Will definitely pay more attention to my forestay pin and how it is inserted and secured in the future.

Cheers,
Jim

[Ric K]

Jim,

10 years ago while sailing my old Mac 26D in San Diego bay I was " T " boned by a large sail boat that snagged a side stay and literaly ripped the rig apart. We were very lucky the mast and boom fell around us and not on us.

2 years later also in San Diego bay, the quick pin( a locking push pin) I was using on the head stay failed, and my mast started to come down. Luckily I always cleat or tie off my furler line and it kept the mast from falling. I jury rigged a safety line and I was able to dock the boat and fix the problem.

If you have a furler always have the line cleated even if the sail is not deployed and never be foolish like I was and use a quick pin. I now use a screw and locknut for the head stay.

Ric K

[hart]

Is there a reason that split-rings sort of like your car keys have is not used?

Yes, they are harder to get in and out. That's a good reason to use them in my book but I'd still tape them.

So sorry to hear that happened to you guys. Glad no one was hurt.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Yea, been there done that. I once clipped a channel marker (while heeled on a turn) with the outer shroud it it instantly snapped the mast in half...built a much better one afterwards though. If its just the spreaders that are bent, that is a pretty easy fix. BWY can mail you some new ones.

I agree about putting the ring dings inboard on the stays. When I got my boat, they were all to the outside and getting ripped out frequently by the genoa sheets..pretty silly. Since I turned them all around, they stay put and no tape needed.

When I built my new mast, I added a spinnaker block several inches above the forestay. I tie this halyard onto the bow pulpit now when I'm not using the spin. This acts as a safety forestay. The stock jib halyard would always get wrapped up in the furler so with this being several inches higher, it stays out (although you still have to keep it pretty tight).

Also, there is a lot of tension on my jib, even if the ring ding vanished, I think the pin would stay in. Although maybe some front to back wave action could get the mast pumping enough to reduce tension and let it fall out. But it is important to have enough tension on the rigging. I have a genoa with heavy U/V cover on it and if that forestay is not tight enough, it will sag and mess up your sail dynamics (curved entry into the wind) which will reduce performance. There are a lot of articles about rig tuning in the performance and tuning forum.

[Rick Westlake]

...2 years later also in San Diego bay, the quick pin( a locking push pin) I was using on the head stay failed, and my mast started to come down. Luckily I always cleat or tie off my furler line and it kept the mast from falling. I jury rigged a safety line and I was able to dock the boat and fix the problem.

If you have a furler always have the line cleated even if the sail is not deployed and never be foolish like I was and use a quick pin. I now use a screw and locknut for the head stay.

I've been using a screw-in shackle, through the furler fork, to secure the headstay on Bossa Nova. The shackle pin is a tight fit into the headstay fork, and the shackle "locks down" pretty well. You can also safety-wire the shackle for absolute security, though I haven't found that necessary myself.

Also, I put a spinnaker halyard at the masthead, and I keep it cleated down tight with the head-end secured to the bow pulpit when I'm not flying the chute. That's probably "belt and suspenders" enough for me.

[ALX357]

Sorry to hear about the mast .... One caveat for the future is to make sure the pin or pins for the forestay and furler are inserted from the side which will keep the ring-dings opposite the side where the anchor line goes past. As for the mainstays, no matter how much more tricky it is to put the pins in from the outside, to keep the ring-dings between the stay and the cabin, it is just one of those things you had better do. Then the Genny sheets can't get to them. If something can happen, it will.

I would recommend a furler shackle and attachment system that has a double-pin back-up, but it requires some further modifications and raising the Genoa.
http://macgregorsailors.com/forum/viewt ... er#p140660

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

As mentioned above, we always install the ringding on the side opposite the anchor roller and install the ones on the stay on the inside next to the cabin.

With a furler, always keep the drum line cleated and it will be a good first backup. With the mast vertical and the headstay un-pinned there really is not a lot of load and the furler line can keep it from starting to tilt aft.

I also always keep the jib halyard connected to the bow pupit ahead of the furler and cleated tight unless we are actively sailing. In this position it acts as a very strong backup to the headstay.

[jschrade]

Very interesting comment on the cleating the furler line. Obviously had not sheeted the furler line yet but that should have certainly helped or at least parted the line.

Moving all of the ring-dings inside is getting done tomorrow.

One other comment from our adventure is that I would think that the mast could never actually fall on your head as the boom will not let it, if it is sheeted. It acts as a pivot and forces the mast to one side.

Jim

[delevi]

Very sorry to hear about your accident. Glad nobody got hurt. I would suggest three changes. 1. Tape all the ring dings you have that do not regularly get removed i.e. shrouds and lifelines. 2. Blue Water Yachts sells an extra long forestay pin with a better ring-ding. Even if the ring-ding comes out, the pin is so long, it would be nearly impossible for it to come out due to tension and its length. 3. Lastly, you may want to tune your rig so the forestay is tighter. This would not only reduce the risk of the pin coming out if the ring ding comes out, again due to tension, and will also imrove sailing performance. The price you pay is a bit more difficulty in pinning the forestay when raising the mast. Well worth it in my opinion.

Best of luck,
Leon

[SailingontheRiva]

If you are new to this, it is critical that you tape or otherwise protect your ring-dings.

Wow! I'm glad to hear no one was hurt. I've never lost my forestay pin, but I have had bad experiences with ring dings. Tape or replace the ring dings on the steering linkage as well. The first day out in my I went to pull into my slip and couldn't get the boat in. The wind was blowing but in my mind I was thinking "This boat is junk". After two or three tries I knew something was wrong and looked back at the steering linkage to find the ring ding missing and the linkage disconnected! It must have had just popped off because we had just come through a marine and under a bridge... It could have been a LOT worse. Check those ring dings!

[Love MACs]

I didn't lose my ring dings but almost lost my mind trying to dock the first and second time under 25 mph winds. It would be easier to chase duck feathers in a Hurricane They say practice makes perfect but I am beginning to wonder. I would settle for easy docking as compared to perfect. Here I am complaining now and some of you can't even sail yet! Sorry But if this ever gets easier, it will be a breeze (no pun intended) when the spring winds die down and maybe even boring in late summer when we will be praying for wind, some wind, any wind



Allan

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

When in doubt in a high wind condition, put all fins down and go backwards. The boat handles far better into a wind this way rather than trying to fight the bow as the high windage of the boat catches the wind and blows to the side. It's much easier to control an arrow pointed down wind than up wind.

[Matt19020]

This has happened to me in 2007:
From a post made here by me:
http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... f=9&t=7843

Day 3 today (The worst)
My wife was away for a week and she wanted to go out on the boat today. I was working on her earlier (the boat!) and decided to stain and varnish the 3 steps into the cabin, so I took them off and stained them at home. I put ONE temporary step in the middle and made do until the others were done. I figured I would go easy and motor only and break her (wife) in slowly to the new boat. My first boat I hit her in the head with the boom ( I admitted it was my fault but she did not seem to care and held it against me!) We went out about 45 minutes avg. speed 7 knots light chop on water. She was very happy with our investment and the way the boat felt. We decide to head back to slip…… I opened it up a little to stretch her legs and BANG! I look forward and I see my new furler dangling off the deck 3 feet midway to the mast! ALL STOP…. I looked up for what seemed to be 10 minutes and realized the MAST WAS FREE!! ON ITS WAY DOWN TO THE DECK!!! Or at least I thought… I instantly told my wife to get clear and go below for safety (I did not want to hear she got hit in the head again) and THEN realized there was only ONE STEP! The mast seemed to be held up by the furling line that was attached to the drum luckily it was locked down. I went to grab the jib halyard to secure the mast and it was no where to be found ….I grabbed the main halyard and secured it to the bow cleat. I tightened it and took the pressure off the furling line. I looked up and noticed the main halyard was coming under the spreaders Not good but better!
WHERE IS MY JIB HALYARD?!?! I look up and there it is holding my new jib cover in place at the top of the mast!! I quickly dropped the cover secured the jib halyard and started breathing again. The whole experience took about 3-4 minutes but felt like an eternity. I called my wife back on deck and there she sat with a 4” gash on her leg from the trip down the ladder. (My fault again I suppose).
I looked at the furler at the dock and the 2” pin that was securing it was gone. The bail was still there.
I had my friend look at that set up prior as I was concerned about such a situation ............he assured me it was fine. I know it was in and secured with the bail, it was checked by myself and him. The pin either snapped (which I doubt) or the bail came off under the bouncing of the boat when I applied the throttle . I replaced it with a pin and ringding.
I should have replaced this setup when I second guessed it originally.

At the end of the day I felt we handled the ordeal well, my ego took a hit today and a cut leg but things could have went A LOT WORSE ..no one was seriously hurt and "My Time" was undamaged I hope some have gotten enjoyment and some have learned what not to do.


you can read more here on the modifications I have made to prevent this from happening...I will not run the boat without this setup.... :

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... 3&start=15