Going Aloft at Sea

We were about half way across the North Atlantic last summer when the Windex at the top of Maverick’s mast got jammed.  It was a small thing but annoying so we decided to go up and fix it, some 70 feet above the deck. As a rule, no one over 60 should get the job of going aloft at sea and that eliminated all of us aboard, except young Andrew.  He strapped on the climbing harness style bosun’s chair, put on the bicycle helmet we’d brought along just for this purpose and we got a halyard ready. We were sailing on a close reach in 10 knots of breeze so the boat was stable and not pitching or rolling. Perfect conditions for the job. Instead of going up the forward side of the mast on a spinnaker halyard, as you might do in harbor, where we would have had to rig another taught halyard for Drew to clip onto, we used the main topping lift aft of the mast, which meant that Drew had the mainsail, mast and rigging to hold on to and would not swing in open air. I had never done it this way before but it made complete sense. Using one of the large electric cockpit winches, we hoisted Drew aloft, and he moved up the sail and mast like Spiderman. Soon he was at the very top of the mast and had the Windex unjammed and working again. On the way down, Drew seemed to slide down the luff of the sail with absolute ease and in complete control and was back on deck without a bruise. I’ve never seen that before, either. So, if you have to go aloft at sea, you may have the option of going up aft of the mast where the mainsail will give you a flat surface to brace against all the way up and down.