MacGregorSailors.com

Okay, sorry no pics, but this weekend I saw a blue M at anchor in some weird place. Later we observed the crew CLIMBING THE MAST to retrieve something. I saw a man on top of the spreaders climbing up with a boatpole to retrieve something (prob halyard) and I was counting the seconds before it turtled. Nope. Waves came and boat rocked and no turtling.
Mac video showed a guy pulling the mast over onto a dock. Not this time.

Still, I wouldn't recommend what I witnessed. This guy was lucky.

Was he skinny?

The mast tilts down so you can reach the top. Perhaps he was held aloft by the air in his head?

150 pounds at the top tips the boat IIRC. As Russ says, not Recommended....

Sounds like the world had a possible new inductee for the "Darwin Awards".

Its not as hazardous as one might suspect. I don't know about the M video, but IIRC the X video says 120 lbs is required, at the top of the mast, to HOLD the boat over on its side. That force is, lets say, 35' from the center of gravity. 120x35= 4,200ft/lb of torque. Using gravity as the mover, it would require a climber greater than 1,050 lbs, at the top of the mast, to tip the boat, if he started over the boat. I don't think a 1,050 lb sailor would be capable of climbing, nor would the mast support him/her.

I weigh 180 lbs. If I climbed to 30' above CoG that would only be 720 ft/lbs of torque. Not hardly enough to git-r-done.

Ken

Retcoastie wrote:Its not as hazardous as one might suspect. I don't know about the M video, but IIRC the X video says 120 lbs is required, at the top of the mast, to HOLD the boat over on its side. That force is, lets say, 35' from the center of gravity. 120x35= 4,200ft/lb of torque. Using gravity as the mover, it would require a climber greater than 1,050 lbs, at the top of the mast, to tip the boat, if he started over the boat. I don't think a 1,050 lb sailor would be capable of climbing, nor would the mast support him/her.

I weigh 180 lbs. If I climbed to 30' above CoG that would only be 720 ft/lbs of torque. Not hardly enough to git-r-done.

Ken

KEN, good details ! Salute !

I've climbed half way up my Mac-X mast, (more than one time), repaired the running light, climbed back down with no problems. The boat rocked about a bit...but things seemed stable. I haven't climbed to the top .... "YET".

I wonder if anyone has actually climbed to, or near the mast-top, on the water, with full ballast ?? And, what is the body weight ?? This would be interesting to know.

I have wondered about the same thing. Climbing is easier than lowering the mast but I have always chose to lower it. That said, I suspect that if it did start to heel over, the speed might be relatively slow and you could avoid injury as long as you are not hitting something sharp. Having fallen once off the boat between two boats at the club while washing the deck I can attest that there is a lot more to hit the closer you are to the boat Glad nobody had a video at the time....

wonder if anyone has actually climbed to, or near the mast-top, on the water, with full ballast ?? And, what is the body weight ?? This would be interesting to know.

This thread came up a couple of years ago, and a poster named darlose said he would try it...he never posted again....

robbarnes1965 wrote:Climbing is easier than lowering the mast

Wow, we must have evolved from different kinds of monkeys. Lowering the mast is a two-minute operation on my boat and climbing it would be a comedy of errors. I do leave the gin pole attached all the time though. Looks a little ghetto, but since I trailer there's no point in over-complicating things.

It's hard enough climbing a mast on my 35 fter when I was 34 years old.
Here is a picture of me climbing aloft when the wire halyard jumped the sleeve and jambed inbetween sailing in 15 knot winds with headsail up.
The Mac. is to unstable even in calm waters, any jerk could snap the mast with a 150 lb person on top,just the weight would bring the mast down to the water and maybe have a better chance at fixing the problem once in the water.
Dave

RussMT wrote:Okay, sorry no pics, but this weekend I saw a blue M at anchor in some weird place. Later we observed the crew CLIMBING THE MAST to retrieve something. I saw a man on top of the spreaders climbing up with a boatpole to retrieve something (prob halyard) and I was counting the seconds before it turtled. Nope. Waves came and boat rocked and no turtling.
Mac video showed a guy pulling the mast over onto a dock. Not this time.

Still, I wouldn't recommend what I witnessed. This guy was lucky.

Concur with Dave on this point. Ive been up many masts on various boats. Wouldnt try it on the
Once you learn how to lower the rig its not a big issue. One of the selling points of the boat, in fact.

Ixneigh

I went up in a bosun's chair about halfway to retrieve a lazyjack line. But I was at the dock. It didn't occur to me to worry about tipping.

I feel confident that Half Way you were fine..Ive done Half Way and Im 204 no issue.. NOW ... where are those Mad Men of Ontario?? Beene is young isnt he??I know Jon has a camera so we can all see how bad it is.....

DaveC426913 wrote:I went up in a bosun's chair about halfway to retrieve a lazyjack line. But I was at the dock. It didn't occur to me to worry about tipping.

Ken..I think your 180 pounds at 30 feet is 5400 ftlbs torque.......splash!