Up the Mast In the Wind

[atmartin]

Originally Posted by smurphny

Don't mind heights and have mast steps w/ tether attached as I go up. No problem in calm conditions, BUT, always wonder just how much rolling the boat can do before my weight creates a force that drives the rig past the point of stability (around 135 degrees on my boat). I wonder what that angle is reduced to with my weight right at the top of the mast. Factors would include speed and momentum as well as basic mechanical advantage numbers. Any of you engineering buffs have an idea about this?

If you know (or can calculate) your boat's center of gravity, you could factor in your weight at the top of the mast and see how far that raises your center of gravity.

Although, if you're up your mast in waves large enough to worry about your angle of vanishing stability, you've got big problems.

I've been up the mast of my previous boat, a Coronado 25 with sketchy rigging, in light wind and seas (off Pt Loma). We took the main down and out of the way and kept sailing with the jib on a reach. It was rolly up there, but the boat wasn't dangerously unstable. I wouldn't make a habit of it, but our vhf bracket had broken off and was trying to slice up the mainsail.