Replacing topping lift

[John V. G. Mayton]

We got to the boat later than we had hoped, but we had a great time talking on the ride to the marina.  It took a bit of trying different ways to rig the boatswain chair so that I could hoist Marina up the mizzen mast to remove the topping lift.  At first I tried the winch on the mast, but it was too small.  Then we tried the port jib sheet winch, but the lead was too high and didn’t work.  Looking over the situation, I saw that I could use the starboard sheet block to get the proper lead to the winch, however the mainsail boom was in the way but I was able to take the main sheet across the finger dock to my neighbor’s rail and got the boom out of the way.  With Marina in the boatswain chair, safety issues covered and agreed to, backup halyard attached and led to the winch on the mast, I began to hoist her up the mast.  Cranking on the starboard winch I would secure the line every few feet, go over and take the slack out of the backup halyard, then back to cranking.  Slowly Marina made it up the mast until she reached the top where she tried to untie the knot that attached the topping lift to the masthead.  Failing in that, she cut the line and dropped it to the deck below.  With both halyards in hand, I eased her back to the deck.  Her first comment was, “I guess I’m not afraid of heights.”  With a chuckle at her blasé attitude, I got busy measuring the topping lift and putting everything back in order.  A quick trip to West Marine to buy a replacement and a few other items we returned to the boat.  We had used up our allotment of time so we just stowed the stuff we bought, locked up the boat and headed home.