Typhoon topping lift

[Ben Miller]

I got sick of wrestling with the backstay pigtail every time I raised or doused the mainsail and decided that this spring I would install a topping lift. I wanted to avoid drilling a bunch of holes in my spars so I came up with what I hope is a simple and straightforward alternative.

I got some 1/8" Amsteel and worked up a piece just long enough to reach from the masthead down to where the pigtail ends, with an eye splice at each end. The upper end shares a pin with the backstay, and the bottom end clips into a carabiner attached to the end of the boom. Today I added the second piece. This one is about two feet long, again with an eye splice at each end. One end is hitched to the lower eye of the upper piece, and the other is also clipped to the carabiner.

The idea is that the lower piece always stays attached to the carabiner. It should be long enough that when the main is up and sheeted down hard, there's still a little slack in the topping lift. When I'm ready to drop the sail, I just lift the boom and clip the upper eye into the carabiner. I haven't put it through its paces yet, but it seems like it should work.

Any concerns or comments?

[Dasein]

Hi Ben,
I edited this after looking at you photo for a while. I think you have a great idea overall, but I always tend to think worst case scenario/what if this comes loose/what if I get confused. If I understand the photo correctly, I would replace the upper loop with a carabiner, so you can easily clip in and out when the s@&t hits the fan. Also, I would replace the lower loop with a more permanent knot attachment on the backside of the carabiner; something that just can't come loose/released no matter what. I think your idea is a great solution to a pigtail, which is a safety hazard, in my opinion.

[Maine_Buzzard]

I Like it- remove the pigtail and there will be little to catch on. The topping lift is looped only when the sail is down, which is less of a risk.

Pull the secondary line off the topping lift momentarily and pass the spliced topping lift eye through a small spinnaker ball. Re attach the secondary line to the eye as it is now. Rotate the beaner 180 and cow hitch the secondary line into the small end.

When you douse, fold the secondary line through the inside of the beaner, pass the ball through the large end and hook it in the V opening of the beaner. A bonus is that you never need to open the beaner. (You may want to re-splice the topping lift to keep the ball from riding up.)



I miss those northern Michigan sunsets where it slides down grudgingly at 10:15 right about now. Flipping sunrise here has me waking up around 4:30am.

[Ben Miller]

Thanks for the ideas, guys! I'm going to have to spend a little time with it before I can know if it's any good in practice, and where it can stand to be improved. One thing I'm definitely going to do in the short term is seize the lowest eye to the carabiner so that I can't/don't accidentally unclip the whole thing.

[ariasis]

Looks like it should work. I like mine which is adjustable from the tiller though.. You can use it to manipulate the sail shape a bit.

[Ben Miller]

The report after a bit of use is that it does work, but it's annoying to have to mess with getting a loop over the carabiner when I want to shorten it up and take down the main. How does yours run, ariasis?