How to: Climb a 50ft Mast

Sometimes things need a little work done, if you haven’t figured that out, on a sail boat.  Sometimes these things are on the top of the mast and when the boat is in the water the only way to reach them, is to climb.

While in Galaxidi Dad decided to make that climb to fix two things:

1.       The wind gauge

2.       The spreader lights

Dad put on a harness with a seat like piece of fabric called a Bosten’s chair. This harness is hooked up to one of the halyards and someone, in this case Chuck, is at the base of the mast with the line to help hoist and as a safety device.

The mast is 50ft from the boat.  This photo just gives some sort of perspective of how high Dad was up.

A greeting from the top.  He took the wind gauge off the mast and had to climb down with it to fiddle a little and grease it up, and then back up to reinstall it.  Sadly he wasn't able to fix the spreader lights.

The mast steps were originally put on the mast for easy access to the top.  Not many masts have them and generally it’s a hoisting situation to get people up to the top.  These give the person more to hold on and a ladder like pole to climb straight up. 

Hi Dad!  He took my point and shoot up to the top and took a shot looking down the mast.  I love this photo.