Once on the boat, my friend and I briefly debated who should go up the mast. At 230lbs I didn't seem like the obvious choice but it was an excellent learning opportunity and he seemed ok with doing the hard work at the winch so the choice was made.
We needed to do a little fiddling with the main halyard. The winch I normally use for the main that sits under the dodger is a little small for the job and isn't self-tailing (it doesn't hold the line in place and keep it tight on the winch). As a result we needed to bring the halyard back to the larger self tailing winch located further aft on the starboard side of the boat. At first the line kept fouling on the winch and we realized that the angle it was coming from was wrong. We re-routed the line through the block normally reserved for the jib sheet and we were in business.
It was slow work going up and I soon realized (after some mild protest by my man at the winch) that I would need to help in the process by pulling myself up the mast as much as possible in order to take some weight off of the halyard. This made the going much easier. Fortunately we had good gear to work with, thanks to my friend who loaned me his bosun's chair. The chair was almost like a harness and it immediately felt secure with multiple buckles and a strong hoisting point. As an extra measure of security we used the spinnaker halyard as a second line, with David taking up the slack as I went aloft.
Reaching the top I was surprised at how comfortable I felt - both physically in the chair and mentally, given my slight fear of heights. Once established at the top I removed the safety line and sent it back down to the deck so the guys could attach a canvas bucket with the tools I would need. Shortly after I was unscrewing the anchor light from the mast and taking it apart to get at the bulbs. The consequences of dropping a screw were not lost on me and I was relieved to get the screws out and into the bag so I could remove the bulbs. I promptly sent them down to the boys to look at and determine if the matched on of the many spares we carry on the boat. Murphy being Murphy, none of them did. David called up that he was going to check the chandlery for replacements and I was left to my own devices up at the top for what seemed like ages. I used the opportunity to take pictures - not just of the view but also of the mast top, to act as a reference for the next time I need to know how things are rigged.
In due time David strolled back, apparently too exhausted from his conversation at the chandlery to move any faster. Murphy was still with us - the store did not carry our replacement bulb.
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| The old anchor light |
After coming back down to the deck the guys informed me that it's not such a big deal right now as an anchor light is not actually required unless you are in a place "where boats don't usually anchor." That was news to me and I was briefly irked by having gone to all the trouble but on reflection it was a valuable experience. The good news is that I had purchased a brand new LED anchor light and at first blush it looks like it will fit in the same screw holes as the other one. So rather than searching for replacement bulbs I'll just replace the entire fixture with the much more power efficient LED light.
