[Alberg30] Anyone own a Mast Mate?

[Dave Terrell]

One might also consider the top climber. It is definitely not cheap, but
it looks like it does not require conditioning to use it effectively.
The ads show a distinctly out of shape older guy using it with apparent
ease. For what it's worth, Ellen Mac Arthur used it when she was sailing
alone. I am looking at this  one. Comments would be appreciated.

>>> richard.hazlegrove at wachovia.com 05/16/03 10:53AM >>>




A couple of additional thoughts.  I like the product and use in
conjunction
with the safety harness that they also sell.  It has one strap that
tightly
wraps around your waist and another larger strap that is used like a
telephone lineman strap that goes around the mast.   This allows you
to
work with both hands and has storage space for tools etc.  It also has
a
large ring attachment point for the larger strap that can also be used
for
a second safety tether.

You can either have an assistant on deck maintain some slack on an
extra
halyard as you go up or down or alternativey if you want to be self
sufficient a small cam device can be used.  I seem to recall that I
purchased this from the same company specifically for this purpose but
it's
probably a common climbing device.  It is attached around an extra
halyard
that is tensioned.  It has a short strap that clips to your safety
harness
ring.  The cam allows it to follow you up the mast as long as upward
tension is on the strap.  Any downward tension on the strap locks the
cam
and will prevent any further downward motion.  When you decend you
simply
lift up where the strap attaches to the cam and slide it down as you
go.
Sounds more complicated than it is.  I like having a redundant
attachment
in case the primary halyard fails or you slip off the ladder.

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