First Solo in TY

[swhfire21]

Made my first solo trip in the bay on my TY yesterday afternoon. Sunny with steady SE winds a little under 15 mph.

The boat handled great with a double reef (newly installed) in the main and about 1/2 the genoa unfurled. No way I could have sailed my previous boats solo under those conditions without constantly being on the verge of going over. It got a little hectic a few times with lines all over the place, but I think that was mostly of my own making and much of it could have been avoided with a little more thinking ahead.

Actually this was the first real sail of the year after some significant rigging/line changes. Only problem found was that the tail of my windex was snapped off. Must have been from a seagull or other bird landing on it as it was in good condition when I raised the mast only a few weeks ago. I guess I'll have to figure out how to bring the mast down with the boat in the water to fix it.

[sharkbait]

Or, find a bridge the correct height and ease up to it for a quick fix.

[Steve Laume]

I forgot to install the windex one year. I sent my then smaller son up in the bosuns chair to fix it. He loved it up there and was old enough to do the job.

I would have done it but have always wondered and worried a bit about how stable a TY would be with 200 Lbs at the mast head, Steve.

[swhfire21]

I agree, while a trip up the mast in a bosun's chair sounds like fun I'm not sure how the TY will act with almost 200 lbs up there. Regrettably though my youngest (late teen) is now taller and stockier than me and I'm back to being the smallest guy in the entire extended family at 5'-10".

The bridge idea came to mind but is probably easier said than done down here given the tidal currents and winds. Also, I think I'd need too many hands to pull it off without damaging something.

I figure at low tide I only need an additional 16 ft or so to reach the top if I tie her up to a bulkhead. If I can't wrangle a bucket truck ride out of a utility company friend I may try an extension ladder if I can get her tightly tied to the bulk head, restrain the mast head and fasten the top of the ladder to it. We are on a sheltered creek, so wave action is not an issue.

Damn seagulls!

[Steve Laume]

I agree the bridge idea may be fine under perfect conditions but one wake could cause more harm than good.

If you can get into a slip with tie offs on both sides you could secure the mast head to the dock with lines attached to the jib or a spinnaker halyard. This would stabilize the mast so you could ride up on the main halyard without fear of flopping over.

I would not try the ladder. They are bad enough on houses if not properly set up, Steve.

[Sandy D.]

I use the gin pole at my club to do mast work once it's up. It is designed to lift way more than I weigh and the operator of the winch has a much easier job than using the boats winch, as well as a better angle to watch me and hear and instructions I give.

FairWinds