MacGregorSailors.com

Hi all
Has anyone been up the mast of a 26x?
on the water?
any problems?

MMMike

Haven't done it but this may help:

In the portion of the M brochure that addresses self righting, it shows a boat at 90 degree heel with a guy holding the masthead down. The brochure says "it takes 130 pounds at the masthead to hold it down".

At the dock I have used a ladder to get me up to the spreaders on my X with no problem but I suspect this isn't what you have in mind.

The smallest boat I have used a bosun's chair on was a Sonar (23 foot keel boat ). When I was at the masthead, a wake caused it to start rolling to the point that it was quite uncomfortable and near impossible to do any useful work. It probably didn't roll more than 15-20 degrees but it wasn't pleasant. My calves ached for days from the death squeeze I applied to the mast.

Why would you go up the mast when in a matter of minutes you can bring the mast to you by simply lowering it? This is easily done on the water particularly if you have the mast raising gear. It's a far safer and easier way to fix a problem.

I'm not one of those people who removes the mast support and raising gear to the truck after setup. I keep my mast raising gear in place folded up and bungeed to the front of the mast. Leave it all attached including the baby stays. You're far better off to have the gear along with you in the boat plus with it in place you'll save time when you setup and tear down. Mine stays in place after the mast is down and the boat is on the trailer as well.

I was wondering if anyone was doing that with the mast raising winch. If not why not . So you just bungee it in place to the front ??

I was thinking about keeping it in place, too. But I'd prefer to have the deck/mast uncluttered. After all, it's only one bolt and the front pin. It takes five extra minutes, at the most, to remove it and store it between the matresses, below the cockpit.

Me too March. I never left my X-style gin pole at the mast, and especially would not since it's now converted with a M-style winch. That winch handle will grab sheets for sure.

we leave ours in place also...baby stays and gin pole. We launch and run the river alot so we step and unstep the mast on the water....whenever it's convenient (or cool enough)

OK,

As one might suspect I've had to climb the mast several times while at sea, even once at night in rather nasty and scary conditions (The top Main Sail slug on a new Main torqued and bound in the track in high winds so I could not get it down to reef & things were starting to get rather bad quickly). Mostly though, I go up to check the rigging, sheeve block, etc. while at anchor.

I have to say my technique for getting up and down fast may not be suitable for everyone. But, here it is; (1) I put on my harness and attach one climbing ascender to it with a beaner, (2) I then climb onto the boom & lock the Jumar into the main halyard (which I make sure is secure) I then free climb up to the spreaders and stand on them with my feet as close to the mast as possible (the Jumar prevents me from slipping) If I need to go up higher I have to use the Jumar to hold me in place in my harness (not comfortable, but OK for a short stay). Usually if I do this I also place a 1/2 in. webbing strap around the mast and back into the harness for extra safety, that way I can only slip as far as the spreader position). On the way down you release the Jumar trigger with one hand and slide down the mast like you would a firemans pole. Done deal, simple but not easy if you are out of shape. Don't know any other way to do it fast while at sea, especially if you single hand and you have any wave action at all. MM

that is what 5 serrated dive knives are for......

There is no way in anny rolling sea............that my 220+ wont pull her over if I am as high as the spreader.

Cut it as high as you can reach, let it floo and tear itself loose.

Climbing the mast in heavy weather does not even close to pass the snicker test.

drop the mast, cut the sail, git her done., one sail will get you home. but none of us can catch up swimming to a mac being blown downwind after we have turned her over on her side..

Mike,

you are a better ( and considerably lighter man than I) if you climbed that mast in a roling sea. I can pull mine damn near over by using the main halyard as a trap line, and leaning eveing with the mast at mid cabin., and dropping the CB doesnt slow it down much. And I have intentionally done this off of vancouver island so a kayaker could look at the hull after I had hit a log. and even then, I ended up anchoring with a yoke and pulling it over on a beach for a more full inspection. (btw....hardly scratched the bottom paint off at 10 mph)

hull with the cringle......

I guess I am just a weanie. But I am also a glacier climber, and there is no way I am going up that pole with my weight, the sail and the shocks of me banging around up there.


jmho.

You are likely right, 220+ lbs. might be a bit much in a rolling sea, or maybe even in a calm anchorage, so if you have a girlfriend on board crank her on up and see if she comes back for more, then you'll know if she's a keeper or not (he,he, just kidding)! Just for fun a couple of times while at anchor I managed to pull my boat over quite far by standing on the spreaders and rocking back and forth; never seemed like it was going to stay down; if it looked like it was, I would have bailed off into the water.

The 'at sea situation' described above was used as an example to demonstarte that if you can climb up using this technique under such conditions (a one time event where getting the sail down was paramount to survival) then it may be something to consider in calm conditions or at anchor. FYI, cutting apart the bottom 1/2 of the sail (which I considered doing) would still have left about 1/2 the sail up to tangle with the spreaders in conditions that were getting worse by the hour. Using the 1/2 flaked bottom slugs to 'walk up' helped me go up the windward side of the mast (It was already blowing close to 40 kts-came up from 22 knts. in less than 20 min. & so I had to head into the wind to keep from sticking the rail in the water with the messed up sail as was). Saw less chance of going over and being pulled along than being blown over later, not to mention jib sailing the next 300 miles or so later on and/or having no main left to reef and buying a new one was not overly appealing. While it might of seemed a bit risky, everything is relative; I can tell you for sure I consider a traverse on the North Face of a 8000 meter peak pre-monsoon during the usual rock slides a heck of a lot more risky than 'walking' up a MAC stick in a nasty blow. MM

Mad mike,

Did you try using a long boat hook to unjam the bound sail slide first?

As a plan B to get the sail down, I would duct tape a big knife to the end of the boat hook and cut the offending sail slug off.

At 255 lbs, there is no way I would even think of going up the mast. That would most likely result in me in the water with the boat on its side.

standing on the spreaders sounds pretty risky to me. those things are very light aluminum tubing.

Just wondering, how did you get your moniker?

Just wondering, how did you get your moniker?

A 20-foot boat hook up in the air, on a pounding sea, would be useless. Way too much movement.

Sounds like a good reason to include a main downhaul in the rigging plan.

Edited: Craig, there is a protocol for attaching dnhaul, but I forget the details. I think I'd concentrate on the slug or the grommet a couple below (maybe even the 3rd below) the headboard. Even when the sail is doused, they remain above the boom. And yes - I agree that I'd be trying a boathook, even 5 slugs below the top, before climbing the mast!

Where would you attach the downhaul? if to the head of the sail, wouldn't this be the same as tugging downward on the luff bolt rope?
but maybe a line around the top sail slug or something? Could this line be added while in the sail jam predicament? Using a boat hook, or a spear gun?

I must confess, I have not tried any precision work with a fully extended boat hook while in big waves, but I would sure give it a try before deciding to climb a mast in those same conditions. But everyone does things differently. Lots of ways to skin a cat.