Names have been changed in this article to protect the innocent…if any of them can be found.
Recently a vessel had to had her mast removed in a foreign location to service a main sail furling system. On returning the mast to the boat, it was decided that the masthead wind instruments would be “put on later” by the rigger to protect from from damage by the crane operator.
One thing led to another and the rigger didn’t get to it. So it fell to the crew of this boat to climb the mast and reinstall the instrument.
Climbing the mast is tough work. This vessel’s mast is almost 80 feet over the water. The masthead instruments are installed at the very top of this, so the person doing them work must go all the way to the top and look over it.
It is easy to make mistakes when you are working on the ground or in an engine room or on the deck. Your life is in no real danger in any of those places and even then it is easy enough to lose focus, I’ve done it many times to my chagrin.
When working up the mast you had a lot more going on. You are sitting in a padded bosun’s chair being hauled up by a line from the top of the mast. You have to carry all of your tools and parts with you and you do NOT want to drop them. Not only would you be unable to do your work, but you would be raining heavy projectiles on those who are below you handling the lines and ensuring your safety. You prefer to keep one hand on the rig. The motion of the boat is greatly exaggerated as you are swinging from the top of a really long see-saw.
So mistakes happen there too.
For this job one of the crew members, we shall call him “Biff”, was volunteered to go up the rig and fix the instruments. His mother was nervous as we strapped him in to the chair and secured his safety lines. His father handed him the instrument and reminded him “Don’t drop this or we’ll be stuck in Panama for another &%^#-ing week” and other words of encouragement. Thinking quickly, the crew grabbed a small line and tied the instrument to the bosun’s chair to keep it from falling in case Biff dropped it. Sensible.
The mast climb went pretty much without instrument. The boat has powered winches that can be used to raise someone every quickly and in no time Biff was up there and had the part installed. The crew on the deck turned on the instruments and they all worked! Time to come down.
As the deck crew started easing the halyard it became apparent that the chair was not lowering, Biff seemed stuck at the top. We rig a second safety to the chair in case there is problem so we knew we could get him down but there was no reason that when the halyard holding him was eased that Biff wouldn’t come down. He even bounced a couple of times in the chair to unstick the halyard before he noticed what the problem was.
Remember how we tied the masthead instrument to the chair so it wouldn’t fall? 
With everything else going on up the rig, Biff forgot to untie that safety line and the instrument was taking his entire weight. Although the arm is made out of aluminum and is fairly stout it is not designed to take the weight of an adult. Especially a bouncing adult, so it bent. Quickly he untied it and tried to bend it back in shape when metal fatigue took over and it snapped.
The challenge now is not in installing a new one, that is a 20-30 minute project even with the mast climbing. The challenge is getting a new one in Panama. There is a dearth of sailing related equipment here. Not a lot of Panamanians seem to sail, most local boats are power boats. This means that boating supplies of many sorts are available, but rigging, wind instruments and other sailboat-centric items are in short supply.
For that I would like to give a shout-out to Judi, from the Customer Service department at the Best Store in the Universe, Defender Industries in Waterford, CT. In the middle of all the carnage from their annual warehouse sale event (which if you live nearby IS worth the trip, I miss it desperately) Judi took the time to listen to me. She recognized the urgency of our situation and walked our order through so the huge money I am spending with FedEx to get the part here as quickly as possible is not squandered by delays in getting the part out of their warehouse. This is the only time of the year that Defender doesn’t ship same day (because they are so backlogged from the huge sale) and Judi still came through for us.
In theory we could sail to the Galapagos without it, but sailing at night without wind instruments isn’t the smartest thing. And more important, trying to get parts shipped to the Galapagos, where they must clear customs in mainland Ecuador, is reported to be it’s own special kind of hell that turns the simplest “FedEx International Priority” shipment into a two month bureaucratic purgatory. So it is best to get your parts before you go.
So now we wait for the new part, which hopefully will be here Wednesday or Thursday. Then we go.
