When things break
The enhanced trade winds typical of this time of year, commonly referred to as the Christmas Winds, are in full force this week. It’s times like this that a boat’s hardware is put to the test. If something breaks while sailing in this kind of weather, not too many people are overly shocked. When something significant breaks when the winds are light though, that is surprising, and that’s exactly what happened to us last week.
While sailing downwind in the Sir Francis Drake Channel, with no more than 8 knots apparent, the block on the top of our mainsail decided it had had enough. Without even a bit of warning, the main dropped to the boom and the remnants of the block, and the main halyard, stayed at the top of the mast. As we had our genoa up and full of wind, we just kept on sailing as we tidied up the sail. That was the end of us using our main sail though until we were able to make repairs.
You can see that one of the hex-head pins is missing.
That is why the block parted from the shackle.
Back on the dock at Compass Point Marina, yesterday was the day to fix this issue. I had acquired a replacement block but the trick was to retrieve the halyard and make the switch. As on many boats this size, the main halyard in rigged 2:1, which means that the halyard comes down from the top of the mast, through a block on the top of the sail (the part that broke) and then goes back to the top of the mast where it is tied off to a pin. The boat is also fractionally rigged which means that the jib and spinnaker halyard do not go all the way to the masthead, only the topping lift and the main halyard do. With the main halyard stuck at the top, that meant that I only had the topping lift to rely upon to get me all the way to the top.
We’re pretty safety conscious, especially where potentially falling to our death is concerned, so we prefer to have a backup line in place when ascending the mast. As all of our friends were busy doing their own projects yesterday, I decided to try out the new self-tending belay device that we purchased.
I rigged the ASAP to our spinnaker halyard which I had secured to a cleat near the mast base. As I neared the top, I secured myself around the mast using a different locking carabiner and a rock climbing sling and then unclipped from the ASAP. I could have avoided all that if we had a second line running all the way to the top of the mast but, as mentioned, we didn’t.
After swapping the block, and taking a few choice pics of the marina, I reversed the procedure when Rebecca lowered me back down to the spot where the spinnaker halyard exited the mast. As I am here typing this post, you can safely assume that the procedure worked. I will say that I’d much prefer to go to the top on the main halyard with the topping lift as backup. Next time!
Great pictures and stories. I have followed your journey from cruiser to charter and we are one of the inquires into a November charter with you. I am waiting for the schedule to be posted then get on the list. You guys look like you do a great job and enjoy doing it.
Thanks for the inspirational and entertaining updates.
Bill
Hi Bill. We saw your charter inquiry. Thank you! As Michael said, we’ll be taking bookings for next season after May 1st. Your name is top of the list for that week though!
Mike. Did you perform any other repairs while up the mast? Great pics, what a view!
No. I’d prefer to be on the main halyard to do any serious work.
Mike – so, you used the topping lift (green line in photo) as your “secondary” or safety line up to the point you transitioned off the spinaker halyard to a fixed point on the mast, then you were on the topping lift as primary? So in effect, you would have only fallen from the mast top to around the top of the spinaker halyard should the topping lift have parted – that correct? Thanks, just trying to increase my knowledge base…
The topping lift was always the primary. The spinnaker halyard was the backup, until I disconnected from it. If the topping lift failed after disconnecting from the spinnaker halyard, I would have fallen 6 or so feet. That still would have hurt, a lot!
No place for the timid! How high are you up there?
I don’t see a tool bag, but you must have something to hold tools, camera, etc.?
Does Rebecca use the electric winch to get you up there? How long does it take?
The top of the mast is approx. 72′ high, I think. I have some tools clipped to my climbing harness. The lines we were using do not run to the electric winch so we used the Milwaukie Drill to power me up. It only takes a moment or so.
Again, why was a swivel block needed? Nothing spins or sways, and alignment does not change. Halyard-specific blocks do not swivel. The builder used the wrong block. A plain block would not have failed.
IMHO, you should always use the simplest block that serves the function. Swivels and snap shackles encourage line twist and fail more often.
As usual, you are right.
I was curious to know your thoughts on how I managed the lines, and what you would have done differently.
I assume you mean that with the main halyard broken, only the topping lift goes to the masthead (spinnaker is 7/8ths hoist?). My Stiletto was like that, but no topping lift (if the main halyard was screwed you had to shinny up the mast the last bit–did that once when a guest pulled the unattached halyard all the way up). You protect the shinny part by…
… Getting a longer sling and tying it as a prusik loop (around the mast 2x). Just push that up as you go. I watched a guy climb a 40′ mast with 2 prusiks around the stick (didn’t use the halyards); not fast, but safe enough. I also used this method on the Stiletto. Even if the prusik does not grab the mast perfectly, it will certainly slow your fall to a safe slide.
Not much else you can do. Remember, almost all rock climbing is done on a single line; the key is making certain that single line is in good shape and that all of the knots are correct (no snap shackles!). While a back-up is a good thing, it is not strictly speaking required. On the other hand, there are those that leave the halyards and blocks in service until near death….
The downside to climbing, or being hoisted on, a single halyard is that it’s impossible to inspect the line in the same way you could a climbing line. I just saw a photo of a friend’s main halyard that parted unexpectedly!
we had a block go also.
Seems to have calmed down a bit now. Wasn’t ready for it after leaving the med! 🙂
The wind has been quite light the last couple of weeks.