The bosun's chair hitch, or lowering hitch, and how to form it

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

This may seem rather too basic for you chaps, but following a discussion in another place on the eternal topic of "how do I get up my mast, singlehanded?" in which I said "4:1 purchase to go up; form a bosun's chair hitch to get down!" I looked for a drawing of how to form the lowering hitch and I could not turn one up.

(Brion - if it is in your book and I have missed it, I do apologise - it's a big book!)

The Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seamen says (my annotations in italics):

15.5 Bosun's Chair

15.5.1 When used with a gantline the chair should be secured to it with a double sheet bend and the end siezed to the standing part with an adequate tail

Comment - I think most yachtsmen will form a bowline more reliably than they will form a double sheet bend and a seizing

15.5.2 Hooks should not be used with bosun's chairs unless they are of the type which because of their special construction cannot be accidentally dislodged and have marked a safe working load which is adequate for the purpose.

Comment - Nah! (Seriously, don't ever use a snap shackle with a bosun's chair!)

15.5.3 On each occasion that a bosun's chair is rigged for use the chair, gantlines and lizards must be thoroughly examined and renewed if there is any sign of damage, and load tested to at least four times the load they will be required to lift before a person is hoisted

Comment - Nah! And you are more likely to get a back injuryfrom crew members lugging around the weights required to proof test the chair and gantline, unless you get four seamen (who has four men available for deck work at one time these days?) to jump on the chair together. Totally impractical for yachts.

15.5.4 When a chair is to be used for riding topping lifts or stays, it is essential that the bow of the shackle, and not the pin, rides on the wire. The pin should in any case be seized

Comment - good advice.

15.5.5 When it is necessary to haul a person aloft in a bosun's chair it should be done only by hand; a winch should not be used

Comment - meaning a powered winch. But never ever use a wire retaining reel halyard winch with a bosun's chair.

15.5.6 If a worker is required to lower himself whilst using a bosun's chair, he should first frap both parts of the line together with a suitable piece of line to secure the chair before making the lowering hitch. the practice of holding on with one hand and making the lowering hitch with the other is dangerous. It may be prudent to have someone standing by to tend the lines.

Comment - here we get to the crux of the matter. The only possible way in which the worker in the chair can get both hands free to form the racking seizing (on which he will be depending until the lowering hitch is in place) is to have someone else tending the fall of the gantline, with it belayed until the seizing is formed. But the Code is silent about how the lowering hitch should be formed.

There have been recent shipboard accidents because the lowering hitch was not used.

If, as Brion recommends in his book, a second safety line is secured, the worker in the chair can be much more confident about forming the lowering hitch, and indeed this is what I would suggest, but holding the parts together rather than making a racking between the parts, which is a lot of trouble for not much more safety, unless the worker is accustomed to making, and removing, a racking.

There is a case for using some sort of jammer, I suppose.

But I still think that the technique of forming the lowering hitch should be routinely taught.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Answering my own post, and not having found the lowering hitch in Brion's book*, I would say:

Having stopped the standing part to the hauling part, preferably with a racking, but by grasping them together if you are singlehanded, pull the fall through the chair bridle to form a loop.

Pass the loop over your head and shoulders and make it long enough to go over your feet.

Pick up the loop with a foot and bring it up outside the bridle.

Haul taut; you should have a hitch on the bridle with the fall leading up; lift the fall to slack off, drop it to stop.

Comments?

Edited to add: Practice this six inches off the deck, first.

* Quite possibly because Brion thinks the lowering hitch is unsafe.

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
When I used to go up in a bosun's chair I would use this hitch, and as you describe it involves dropping a bight through the chair and bringing it up past you to form a kind of Becket Bend at the bridle's junction. In those days I was, um, somewhat less safety conscious than now, and would typically do this with no backup, and even slack the fall to draw up the bight. I shudder to think of this.
A carabiner hitch is, in any event a better tool for the job, not least because it acts as a fairlead, to keep the part you're pulling on close to you no matter what. Also, of course, easier to form, secure, rappel on, and remove.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Brion - I sense that you disapprove of self lowering in a bosun's chair altogether, but do I take it that you would prefer using the Munter hitch? It is certainly easier to form "one handed".

The real use of a lowering hitch on a chair is when sanding and varnishing a mast, or slathering something on standing rigging, as I personally feel safer doing it myself rather than endlessly calling a helper (who is bound to become bored, and perhaps careless) to resecure every 18 inches.

[benz]

If I had to pass a bight of rope around my entire body while securing myself with the other hand I would probably let the wrong hand go and end up hanging myself. There is a device rockclimbers use commonly called a grigri (made by Petzl). Once the rope ( 3/8 is the best diameter; I usually run a piece of it up with a halyard when I need to climb a mast), is threaded, you pull a lever to lower off. Releasing the lever stops the descent. That way I can stop anywhere along the length of the mast, with no outside assistance. It can be fitted to a bosun's chair, but I prefer going up a mast in a climbing harness anyway, since I use mechanical ascenders (also made by Petzl) for that sort of thing. Incidentally, I found it handy to be able with the ascenders to go up the mast while under sail by jugging the tensioned fall of the main halyard (external halyards are a must for this; but external halyards should be a must anyway) to spot for coral when sailing in those parts of the world where coral is found.
If you do a lot of mast climbing, these little climbing gadgets are really worth looking into.
Ben

[osteoderm]

I completely agree with Ben's ideas regarding the use of rock-climbing gear/practices. I climbed for some time before sailing, and being used to climbing gear, the traditional bosun's chair and associated practices have always seemed pretty unsatisfactory to me. It sure is handy to have a helper grind you up the mast, but otherwise I've always regarded the halyard as a secondary line, trusting my safety to one or more fixed lines aloft.
I'll add that there are other less-complicated (no moving parts) alternatives to the Grigri, such as "Tubers", although the twist'n'tangle-inducing figure-eight belay plates ought to be avoided. I have no personal issues with using carabiners for attachment points for mast-climbing, provided such pieces of climbing equipment are used for soley that purpose, and closely inspected; this is second nature to many climbers, who frequently have no qualms about discarding any piece of gear that's been dropped more than 6 feet, no matter how it appears visually. Snap-shackles don't inspire my confidence, but burly climbing 'biners made to keep my life intact do.
I'd also like to mention the Prussik again; a simple "knot", easy to learn and remember, but hard to describe. I've always used one to back up any mechanical belay/lowering devices when working on a rockface.