It’s no one particular thing, just a very edgy feeling. I’ve spent the better part of my life moving things around for a living, mostly explosives. I held a Class A CDL with an X endorsement. But a bag of water is not the same as a taught line being fair led through blocks. It’s dynamic. A boat wake at the wrong time could get it moving in a way you didn’t expect. The most dangerous loads I’ve ever handeld were beer in cans and bottles because of the way the weight would shift. Each little tiny force of liquid shifting a little bit to one side in a turn adds up to a big problem if you let it.
Anyway it sounds like you have a handle on things and are thinking through the possible problems, just please be careful.
The sailmaker that made the stack packs advised me to use the sail as is. It seems to me that running the bolt rope along the boom didn’t actually give the sail much extra support and the load on the clew does not appear to be any greater.
Yes, the Wichard gybe-easy is very similar, but because the word ‘marine’ or ‘boat’ is somewhere in the brochure text, it’s 10 times more expensive as an abseil/rappel eight. If you look in the catalogues of mountain climbing suppliers, you find similar items for under 20 UKP. Like these:
I’ve seen the ads for Goldrush when she was for sale. Must be one of the very last F35 catketches built. I collect pics of all goodlooking Freedoms I can find:
just to let you know I now have my mast climbing water bag. Fyne Spirit is on the slipway at present and wont be back in for a couple of weeks. But when she is I’ll give it a try and let you know how it goes, maybe with photos. I also have the grigiri, harness and ascender system, but I am a lazy so and so and the bag system looks a lot easier.
By the way Michel, that is a nice picture of Gold Rush. I like the arch down aft and the wind generator mounting location. It looks more practical and versatile than the foremast mount on Fyne Spirit. Is there a shot from the beam which would show the location of the mizzen sheet in relation to the arch?
Had some trials last Saturday but forgot the jolly camera. I went about 2/3 of the way up the main mast and the system seemed to work OK except for the block at the mast head. In order to rise the bag had to be quite a bit heavier than me and to descend was very difficult without releasing some water. My feeling is this extra friction is caused by a dodgy block, (I had noticed previously that it feels a but rough when pulling and unloaded halyard bak and forth) so I plan to replace the block.
I was unable to get the grigori to work on the 12mm halyard but found the ascender was fine. For future climbs I would use a second ascender on a seperate halyard as a safety. Control of the bag was not difficult althought the catenary when full brought the bag too close to the radome so an assistant was needed to pull it clear. I might try using a halyard from the other mast to keep the bag clear next time.
Over all the process felt OK and well controlled, and that is from someone who is not keen on heights. The other thing was water pressure. The local mains handled it easily and I would think an impellor pump would be capable of filling the bag if you were away from a mains supply.
We escaped from the estuary on Sunday so now sailing is the order of the day, and the bag will have to wait.
As we tested the bag our progress was closely monitored by the commodore and other flag officers sitting in the club bar about 30 yards away. He was so impressed he has hired the bag for the use of his surveyor as they carry our an inspection of the rig. 10 hires like that and the bag will be paid for!
