Page 294 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

tion of tape measure in the picture for scale. Did you part of the deck crew or malfunction of the machin-
put a lanyard on that camera? I do not know the ery can have tragic consequences. This is because
maximum safe distance for dropping a smart phone the power involved is all out of scale with the work
to the deck, but I do know that it is less than 55 of lifting a human, because the machinery is not
feet. . . . designed for this job, and because the deck crew is
Whenever possible, avoid going up in bad rarely trained for it, or at least trained well. Besides,
weather. Not just because it’s uncomfortable and you need the exercise. Use ascenders or steps or
dangerous, but because communications become block-and-tackle or other means to get aloft (see
difficult—it’s hard to outshout a storm—and below). Get assistance from a manual winch if you
because you just can’t do as good a job. need to, but even then be sure of your deck crew.
Minimize future trips aloft by making every trip Mountaineers and sailors have a long history
an opportunity to survey the rig (see the “Survey of information sharing. Two of the most valuable
and Maintenance” section later in this chapter). ideas from the mountains are leg-and-hip-encir-
Have handy an assortment of clevis pins, cotter cling safety harnesses and cam-grip rope-climbing
pins, screws, bolts, shackles, tape, etc., so you can devices (Figure 7-12). A good harness is far supe-
deal with small problems immediately.
Wear white-soled or scuff-proof dark-soled Figure 7-12. A mast climber (taken from an illustra-
shoes to avoid marking masts. tion in Lirakis catalog): The “Ropewalker’s” cam-grip
Wear long pants to avoid chafed and bruised action gives you a stairway to the spars. Release one
legs. side and slide it up, raising the corresponding leg, then
Spinnaker halyard blocks are convenient to engage the cam and straighten that leg while sliding
work from, since they’re up high and they swivel. the other side up. Note that one walker is belayed
But like all swivel blocks, they’re more fragile than to the safety belt. For a faster, reduntantly secured
nonswiveling blocks. Use an in-mast safety halyard. ascent, use two halyards.
The deck crew will appreciate any help you give
them in getting you up, but avoid pulling yourself
up so quickly that you put slack into the main hal-
yard; sudden slack can cause the halyard to “wrap”
on the winch, or jump off a loose sheave above and
jam between sheave and mortise. Slack also means
that if you fall, you will have time to accelerate;
sharp fetch-ups can damage you.
If a vessel has ratlines, make things easier for
everyone by climbing as far as you can on those,
then switching to halyards.
With mast steps, it is essential to have a well-
tailed safety line on you. Instead of having steps all
the way up, consider installing just two, near the top
of the mast, for a place to stand when working at
the top.
Many vessels today have electric or hydraulic
winches and capstans aboard, and it is natural to
think of using them to hoist personnel as well as
sails and anchors. I will just leave you to imagine
how horribly this can go wrong. Any mistake on the

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