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Old 11-15-2008, 11:08 AM
Ian McColgin Ian McColgin is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Hyannis, MA
Posts: 368
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I've used climbing gear for going aloft for the last forty five years. Static lines are fine. In mountaineering it's usually one fixed line but on a boat it'susually one half of a halyard belayed. Thus you put twice your weight on the upper pulley.

Another problem with a static line is that your weight puts slack in the part below and this slack makes ascending harder. A halyard doubled just makes for more and springier slack. Your first practice with the ascenders or prussicks (buy ascenders - a good investment and they make the downclimb so much easier) will get this point across.

So I hit on the idea of hitching the hoist to my harness, bringing the fall under a block fixed to something about at deck level or the gooseneck or something, and back up to the harness. One ascender goes from the harness to the fall. The other is above that and has a couple of foot loops at equal height. Reach the leg ascender as high as you can and straighten your legs to rise, sliding the harness ascender up with you. Sit on the harness and repeat.

This approach leaves no slack hanging.

For a safety I have a tether from a figure 8 chest harness and the sit harness that I strop around the mast a couple of times like a salvagee. It can lie loose against my lap but will tighten up around the mast and stop a fall if something breaks. The pain in the neck of
switching it over any spreaders is less than trying to manage a live safety. If you get to working height and need to move away from the mast, you can make the tether longer.

I also keep a descending ring on my sit harness. For going down I loop the fall through that in the usual way, take the load off the two ascenders, and slide down nice and smooth.

There are many variations on how to do this, depending on your comfort. What ever system you hit on, practice going down before you are more than a foot or two up.

G'luck
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