Everybody knows that most men have back problems and that most of them won't admit it and have to try to be macho and raise the mast themselves. So they end up either rupturing a disk or getting a hernia. (And then they have an excuse for not helping their wives move furniture around. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />)

Anyway, for the Nacra 6.0, Rick and I were both getting a little old, and he was not able to raise the mast himself. He didn't have the time or patience to come up with a gin pole system, so he used me.

What we did was, we tied a looong length of line to the bottom end of the forestay, and I would go waaay out in front of our vehicle with the line. He would do the usual cling-and-jerk to get the mast started up, and then I would pull like mad on the line while he lifted. Seemed to work pretty well.

Lowering the mast was the same thing in reverse, except that I had to really dig my heels in to control the drop, and I always had this vision of him dropping the mast and me being dragged into and up over the top of our car. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Uh-oh, sbflyer got his post in right before mine, and I had not even seen it when I said that about ruptured discs.