The On Deck Channel · video

What this video covers

A catamaran's 2:1 main halyard presents a specific hazard when used to hoist a person aloft: the moving side of the line runs directly past the bosun's chair, risking fingers, skin, or hair being pulled into the shackle's block.2:01 The dead-end attachment at the masthead is also a single failure point the climber cannot inspect.1:49 The workaround is to identify the moving (working) side of the halyard by pulling each side in turn, then pass a bight of that working side through the bosun's chair's lifting point and tie a bowline.3:08 This converts the rig to an effective 1:1 hoist off the working line, bypassing the shackle-block pinch hazard and eliminating reliance on the masthead dead-end.3:21 The Tytalaska 2:1 shackle's block and the internal mast sheave are explained in detail, including how the line dead-ends at the masthead pin, runs down to the shackle block, returns up and over the masthead sheave, and exits through a deck organizer to the cockpit.0:28 A secondary benefit: this technique allows halyard replacement aloft without ever trusting the masthead attachment point.3:31

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