3 Ways to Climb a Mast, Incl Solo (and Saba Adventure!) - Ep 29
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- čas přidán 14. 06. 2024
- Three Ways To Go Up Your Mast. Here's some tips.
btw become a Patron, / sailingvirgins
Shooting in the beautiful Norman Island, BVI, Sailing Virgins Instructor Marco Mendes takes you through three ways to climb a mast.
Three Methods (00:28)
1. Traditional
2. Fast
3. Solo
Why go up the mast? (00:42)
Safety tips (01.02)
1. Don't trust shackles (tie a double bowline)
2. Use two halyards if possible
3. Use a tether/leash
4. Establish communications above and below
5. Consider using a VHF
6. Lock your halyard in the jammer
7. Do a bounce test
8. Vigilant, competent wincher
9. Try to avoid power winches unless you really know them
10. Watch out for sensitive gear
11. Do this in good weather whenever possible
What you need (02:48)
1. Bosuns chair
2. Bag
3. Lanyard
4. Shoes, gloves
5. Ascender for the solo method
Traditional Crank-Up Method (03:18) - crank time 3 minutes
Climbing Method (07:04) - crank time 52 seconds
Solo Method (09:15) - crank time aaages
Notes on Solo Method (this is important!)
1. The double-fisherman knot is essential to a prusik loop
2. You can also use an ascending device such as a jumar
3. You should have at least one locking carabiner, preferably 2 or 3
4. The backup prusik (12:10) on a spare halyard is highly recommended (you are not supposed to rely on the 6mm prusik lines to hold you)
6. Here is a great page on How To Prusik: www.vdiffclimbing.com/prusik-...
The solo method should really only be done by people who are well versed in prusiking techniques.
Saba Island Adventure (15:18)
The adventure part of our episode takes us to Saba. Saba Island is an incredible part of the Caribbean. A tiny population of Dutch people perched on top of a big rock, with a several-hundred-year history, this truly is a hidden gem.
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Acknowledgements
Marco Mendes, Instructor, Sailing Virgins (marco@sailingvirgins.com)
Forrest Ladkin, all shooting and editing (instagram @forrest_ladkin)
Anna Valero, Marie Louise Meng and Chris Hilger, our three students this week, thanks you three!
Music
(00:02) Lying Together by FKJ
(15:12) Younger by Liam Wright www.liamwrightmusic.com.au/
You can find these songs and more in our Sailing Virgins Spotify playlist! open.spotify.com/playlist/2NF...
I'm a fairly new solo sailor and I'm finally confident going up alone. It only took three years to finally get a solid explantation using knots. Thanks!
If going solo you also could get a GriGri and an ascender and other basic modern climbing gear and do it in comfort and safety solo. Your solo method is a cool option in a pinch. I would consider a helmet, since you could hit your head pretty bad, even on a nice day if a motorboat passes and makes big waves etc.
This is one of the best sailing related tutorials I have ever seen! Congrats!
As a former rock climber I’d never trust a single bowline to tie in especially in a single rope. Put a second wrap in the hole.
Figure 8 on a bite with locking carabiner.
Figure 8 for the win when your life is on the line
That is the conventional wisdom. I have to say, however, with 55-years of sailing experience and a good bit of climbing/mountaineering experience, both military and civilian: I have never seen a bowline slip or fail. Not ever. Not once.
super rad vid Marco and crew ! i watch a LOT of sailing tutorials etc and this is next level ! time to binge all of them :)
another epic video as always - love you guys slipping in those adventure shots above and below too - please keep up the great work. We are just setting off on this adventure with our RYA training booked & paid here in the UK, (sorry S-Virg) which starts as soon as this lockdown ends. Respects to your team guys. You've helped us a lot!
Ya'll are brilliant seaman, thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Marko is amazing. Love the style of all your videos guys. Thank you for providing entertainment during our quarantine :) Next video Marko teaches a traditional SA braai !!!
The information and the demonstration were awesome. In the end the hike to the mountain was amazing.
Fantastic lesson, Marko! Clearly presented and very understandable to a newbie like me. Thanks so much!
Awesome video guys! I am not looking forward to soloing up my mast, but I know the day is coming.
Hi guys been sailing for some time now and i find your videos very informative, refreshing and entertaining. I subscribed cheers happy sails .
Legends - that solo climb gives me some peace of mind as I just bought a boat for myself here in New England. PS I loved my Saba visit too. Brilliant place!
Great technique for climbing and what an amazing scenery at the end!
John Feeken thanks!
All videos are amazing but especially this one requires lots of effort to produce. Big thanks.
Awesome video. Thanks so much.
Great video as always!
And a friendly tip for those who try the solo method, wear shoes!
Thank you for the great video! Now it’s up to me to implement.
Take care,
Tim
Glad it was helpful!
Another great video! Keep up the great content!
Andre Carmo will do!
great video
You guys make great videos
That solo is great, I am now able the understand the process of climbing solo, which I have been wondering and looking for an answer. Thanks 😊.
Rock on Kochi!
Good lesson
great vid
Dwayne thanks!
Very helpful!
Love the SA accent and no-bullshit manner 👍
Right on the money!!..
Good Tube
It's like watching Zoolander trying out for a new career!
The masts on my ketch are on tabernacles. I can raise and lower them single-handed using an onboard winch.
I liked the first and third method. I don't think I will ever use second one.
We want to see the 4th way, free climbing one
at 4:31 this is a triple chair knot, not a double. you must use the 3 loop. .... Or do a double if you want to use only 2 loops.
And if you've got foot hoops built onto your mast, I guess you can clip on, clip off and you climb up the mast, or use that sliding hitch method as safety.
Random (could be stupid) question : with the 3rd option of 'solo-ing' the mast... could you hypothetically rig a counterweight on a halyard that would help pull you up? a 'negative buoyancy' type situation to make it super easy to go up? or is that madness and/or too complicated .?
bryan little hi, thanks for your comment; we have never heard of that method and couldn’t actually see how it might work. The prusik method we show is pretty robust and simple. It may take time but there is not a lot that can go wrong with it. This is a huge advantage for this sort of activity. Thanks for watching and engaging!
@@SailingVirgins I'm a total beginner sailor so it probably doesn't exist for good reason. Your video just got me thinking what I would do if I absolutely had to get up the mast solo and physically couldn't pull myself up for whatever reason. anyway, shot for reply and thanks for the videos they are super cool. been practicing the with the knots one. super rad
Hi Guys, I would always wear shoes that way you can stand on things on the mast and when you use a line as you did to climb up the mast it will not dig into your foot.
4 way....
You can have a rope ladder , send it up as you would a person and off you go. Make sure you make it fast to the deck.
Also your port hand Winch guy, is that sorry I can not remember his name but is he from sailingbritican ?
Capt Chef Mark SV Alcina hey! We have a religious avoidance of cold water, shoes and gloves when sailing. Winch on port side is Gus Kell from Australia.
Can you please give me one more tutorial on this while you’re putting on my anchor and steaming light, and a new topping lift?, hmmm?😎
Could you share the bosun harness link?
Great video, but why bowline for climbing. Isn't double figure 8 much more reliable.. At least I would feel with it.
Bowline clipped in and backed up with bowline I have never heard anyone fail on, and is fast. I come from climbing where double-bowlines are legit for climbers, esp. mountaineers who need to get in and out with frozen fingers. The biggest problem with a figure 8 is it takes much longer to tie, and it locks up which means it takes a long time to come off of. This is fine in good weather but can be consequential in a storm. So we're not against a figure 8, it's just when you weigh several factors, you come to something that you're happy with. We're happy with a backed-up bowline.
Climber's know their knots: Only the ones still alive.
lol. The old ones are geniuses.
DRT method with a blakes hitch might be an easier single handed climbing method.
What’s your boat?
Prusik knots are not the only method for solo mast climbing.
Check out this ladder method from Kinleven marine: kinlevenmarine.com/about-the-kinleven-mast-ladder/
Using this ladder with a bosuns chair on one halyard, and backup climbing harness on a second halyard is the absolute safest method out of all of them.
I use a Jumar ascender and footloops (frogger cave ascending method) and a grigri for descending, plus a lanyard around the mast (adjustable via a prussik) as a fall-arrest, and I tie a series of alpine butterfly loops in my backup halyard and clip them to my harness with a big carabiner (undoing them as I come down) - lots of ways to skin the solo mast-climbing cat ;-)
Is it Mast or Most... I can’t google search correct without the proper spelling
Haha that's what happens when a Saffa does the episode
weird enought there's a medical school on that island
Hot tip, instead of having the camera on his face....show us what he is doing!
Great, but please kill the music, it's just a distraction and I'm trying to listen.
Your weight on a bare foot in a prussic loop soon becomes painful. Wear a a trainer on that foot. Keep the other bare for climbing.
Agree. :)
Loved the video BUT ...... Cringe...... Hate to be that guy.....but I do have one criticism.........
Do not secure your halyard to your harness or Bosun's chair with a bowline knot. If you are in choppy water or moving around a lot, or for any reason, you unload the line, it can shake loose. Old-time climbers can tell stories about people or themselves who have had a bowline knot come loose on them. Instead use a figure 8 knot, commonly used as a stopper knot but if it is rethreaded or doubled back on itself and followed back through the knot, it will never come loose even if you're using it as a bouncy chair.
That's a matter of opinion. Bowline clipped in and backed up with bowline I have never heard anyone fail on, and is fast. I come from climbing where double-bowlines are legit for climbers, esp. mountaineers who need to get in and out with frozen fingers. The biggest problem with a figure 8 is it takes much longer to tie, and it locks up which means it takes a long time to come off of. This is fine in good weather but can be consequential in a storm. So we're not against a figure 8, it's just when you weigh several factors, you come to something that you're happy with. We're happy with a backed-up bowline.
@@SailingVirgins your right it is a matter of opinion. And that would be why you, and I, tie prusik knots to a different line and have other back ups no mater what knot you use. I personally would use the figure 8, where you personally will use a bowline. Thanks for the vids they are informative and I enjoy them.
Ask any climber: bowlines are *not* safe for this purpose and have led to many deaths. Do as climbers do, double figure of eight. On the other hand, at least he is using a safety line which not every youtube video on the topic does!!
You 100% need to dress your knots, and not ideal recommending a bowline for climbing 🤷🏻♂️😢
Relying your life on just 2 or 3 prusniks is REALLY bad advice.
Where the hell is your rolling clove hitch ?!?!?!?!?😟
When relating important safety information turn down the shit background music.
The music makes this unwatchable.
What is a ridiculous music in the background? It sounds like somebody strangling a chicken.
Had to stop watching cos of that crappy music. Awful.
very good video at first i thought you was just going to talk only lol