Posted By: Anonymous
Mast raising - 09/22/05 05:01 PM
The was a brief discussion in the recent Stealth video thread about mast raising. Rather than hijack that further I'd like to start a separate discussion and am interested in hearing from folks about their mast raising techniques, especially when solo.
I have so far mananged to raise the mast on my Blade solo from the rear, based more or less on the two-person method described on the AHPC site. However it's pretty hard work, and I don't feel real secure. I tried rigging a line from a trap dogbone to a block attached to the forestay bridle to enable me to provide some forward pull while I'm on the tramp. I'm unsure whether that was actually helpful, but it at least made me feel a little more secure.
Stephen Medwell described how A cat sailors in Australia raise from a 45 degree angle to the bows, and this method is also described on the F16 site. I tried this yesterday and just couldn't make it work. In order to get the near shroud attached before raising, the angle really does have to be about 45 degrees, and what I found was that I then ended up having to straddle and then step over the bow of the near hull in order to be able to walk the mast up.
I'm wondering if I'm trying to do this too slowly - since I'm still learning the dynamics of this thing I'm a little tentative and doing everything slowly in an attempt to maintain control. Maybe I need to be more agressive and just push the thing up in one rapid motion.
What are the rest of you doing?
Mark.
I have so far mananged to raise the mast on my Blade solo from the rear, based more or less on the two-person method described on the AHPC site. However it's pretty hard work, and I don't feel real secure. I tried rigging a line from a trap dogbone to a block attached to the forestay bridle to enable me to provide some forward pull while I'm on the tramp. I'm unsure whether that was actually helpful, but it at least made me feel a little more secure.
Stephen Medwell described how A cat sailors in Australia raise from a 45 degree angle to the bows, and this method is also described on the F16 site. I tried this yesterday and just couldn't make it work. In order to get the near shroud attached before raising, the angle really does have to be about 45 degrees, and what I found was that I then ended up having to straddle and then step over the bow of the near hull in order to be able to walk the mast up.
I'm wondering if I'm trying to do this too slowly - since I'm still learning the dynamics of this thing I'm a little tentative and doing everything slowly in an attempt to maintain control. Maybe I need to be more agressive and just push the thing up in one rapid motion.
What are the rest of you doing?
Mark.