Page 344 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

is picking up, so why leave the deck if you don’t
have to?
But if it’s wrapped around not only the shrouds
but also vital halyards made off to a sheerpole pin-
rail, it’s a different situation. Sure you can’t reach
it with the boathook? That it won’t come loose by
itself? Then get into a safety harness and get out
the bosun’s chair. No bosun’s chair? Put a Bowline
on the Bight or Double Butterfly into the halyard
end and sit in that. Tie yourself to one or more of
the shrouds on a short tether, have the person at the
helm steer the course that imparts the least motion
to the boat, and go aloft. Just two people aboard,
so no one to winch you up? Heave-to to free the
other hand. If this isn’t possible, reeve a long spare
line into a handy-billy, set up some sort of safety
(as described in Chapter 7’s “Living Aloft”), and
haul yourself up. If you have no handy-billy, curse
yourself soundly, do a few limbering-up exercises
(no kidding), and shinny up a pair of shrouds as
shown in Figure 9-4. This little-known technique is
strenuous, and on vessels with small-diameter wires
it’s downright painful. But it’s the fastest way aloft
and it might be your only alternative.
Get a bosun’s chair. Get a handy-billy. And
above all, get around to seizing shackles.
It is natural to think immediately of dismastings
when we think of rig failures. What if, despite all
precautions, your mast does collapse far from help?
Here is a scenario based on reports of actual jury
rigs, a little disaster sampler for your consideration.

Problem: A weak spot in the mast at the spread- Figure 9-4. A ratline-less emergency climbing tech-
ers causes a failure far from land, in 20 to 25 knots nique: Wrap feet and hands around adjacent shrouds
of wind. The mast doesn’t teeter and fall; it’s under and monkey your way up. Stretching beforehand to
tons of compression load, so it comes down Bang! limber knee and ankle joints is a good idea.
in the blink of an eye and bounces over the leeward
side before it fetches up in a tangle of rigging. The
boom crumples at its outer end when it hits a comer ing and lurching sharply, so footing is none too sure.
of the gallows, and shears away at the gooseneck. From belowdecks comes the sound of cascading
Some of the shrouds and stays carry away and go gear and shouts of alarm. Someone fights their way
whipping through the air, the leeward lifeline stan- to the wheel, shoulders the dazed helmer aside, and
chions collapse and add to the tangle, and sections starts the engine to get the boat under control, only
of the smashed dinghy fly into the cockpit. Deprived to have a stray piece of running rigging immediately
of the rig’s stabilizing effect the hull begins pitch- foul the prop.

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