Climbing to the Top: A Review of TopClimber Mast Ascending Gear
Winnie the Pooh: "...it isn't just an ordinary sort of boat. Sometimes it's a Boat, and sometimes it's more of an Accident. It all depends." Christopher Robin: "Depends on what?" Winnie the Pooh: "On whether I'm on the top of it or underneath it." Have you been on top of your sailboat? Have you taken a trip up your mast? It seems like a sort of rite of passage for sailors. When asked why he was attempting to climb Mount Everest, George Mallory once famously answered, “Because it's there.” Well, the mast is there, so why not climb it? Of course there are also plenty of legitimate reasons to take a trip high above your deck: rig inspection, changing masthead light bulbs, adding a new line, retrieving a lost/broken halyard, and taking the obligatory overhead photos. I’ve written before about our initial technique for mast climbing here , but we recently upgraded our mast climbing routine with the TopClimber solo mast climb