On the second weekend of May, Mid Island Sail Training (MIST) happened in Montague Harbour. What follows is just one “dreamer’s” impressions. First – a good time was had by all!
MIST is a great way for dreamers and doers to come together and share information, our choices, and stories of hard won experience. This isn’t the usual educational gathering where one “expert” lectures and the rest take notes. MIST is much more dynamic than that, with information and ideas flowing in all directions. I think this is important: much learning came not just from the wisdom of the “old salts”, as valuable as that is, but from the sharing of ideas, choices, and questions of those in the midst of preparing their boats and themselves for further adventures.
Sailing into Montague Harbour at the start of MIST
As is the case with all sailing activities, the wind dictates. There was not a lot of wind so many of our activities took place at the dock. We had a lively session with groups exploring and experiencing mast climbing, MOB recovery and heaving lines – all simultaneously. Ken even demonstrated his “rapid dingy launch” system – a clever invention (I wish it would work on our boat).
This round robin learning approach worked very well. People were free to circulate between “stations” as the opportunity and their interest took them. It was very informative and thought provoking to see, and actually try out, people’s different “rigs” for mast climbing and for recovery of someone in the water. There is nothing quite like experiencing first hand just what it’s actually like to hoist someone from the water (we cheated a bit and hoisted from a dingy), or to strap yourself into a harness and try to pull yourself up a mast! Lots of good discussion of the strengths of each system.
Oh, and throwing a heaving line – not quite as easy as one might imagine. There is a bit of technique to it and practice helps!
Left: GriGri – an assisted braking belay device manufactured by Petzl; Right: Grapple hook
We also spent a morning “crowd sourcing” and testing strategies to aid in springing a boat off the dock when the wind seeks to keep it pinned. Great sharing and learning!
Even with all the learning we did find some quiet time to enjoy the sunset.
Enjoying the sunset at MIST.
As it happens the knowledge of mast climbing has taken on a new relevance to me. Just one weekend later Lil’Ollie’s upper furler bearing “somehow” managed to catch a loop of a spare halyard and now both are jammed fast with 1/3 of the fore sail still out. The only way to contain the flogging sail was to turn the boat in multiple circles until the sail wound itself in. So there will be a trip up the mast in my immediate future. This really brought home to me the importance of having an effective means of climbing the mast myself. It’s one thing to have an issue close to home where gear and friends to help are close at hand, but it would be quite another had this happened while we were halfway around Vancouver island this summer!
Here are a couple of resources I am working through that I want to share:
Yachting Monthly: “How to Climb a Mast Solo”
YouTube: “A Better Way to Climb a Sailboat Mast”
Currents PDFs
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