Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

I always use two halyards when going up the mast

I have three halyards rigged on my boat, I use two to go up the mast. I have one person grinding up on the genoa halyard to hoist me up and a second person taking up slack on the spinnaker halyard as a backup. I don't really trust the spinnaker halyard on my boat since it is external to the mast and if the block failed I would be a deck pizza but I do use it as a backup. You couldn't use the main and genoa halyards together since they are on opposite sides of your spreaders, or you would need to disconnect around the spreaders. As Larry suggests, you can use a line around the mast as a backup but it is a bit of a pain since you would have to untie and tie it as you go over the spreaders.

I wouldn't go up without some kind of backup though. And I do not trust snap shackles. I always pass the halyards through the fitting on the bosun's chair and tie with a bowline.

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