In a new, world-first series, Yachting Monthly creates a wide range of potential disasters to find out if the theories we’ve all heard actually work in practice DISMASTED! What happens and which tools work best What do you do when your world crashes round your ears? Chris Beeson and the Crash Test crew created a ‘controlled’ dismasting in a gale and put eight rig-cutting tools to the test

he : elegant, upstanding, unwavering – the very definition of seamanship under since the Egyptians Tfirst pioneered wind-powered trading vessels over 5,000 years ago. Without a mast, we are merely motorboaters. If it’s free of structural defects, well maintained and you reef appropriately in strong winds, it will give years of sailing pleasure. But what happens if it does break? The best case scenario is an abrupt end to your day’s sailing. You clear all lines from over 3 seconds from sailing to stopped the side and motor home with a slightly shaken but otherwise questions we wanted to answer. ABOVE: The dismasting was uninjured crew, and an expensive We researched every method controlled but the damage was story to tell. The worst outcome of cutting shrouds so we could real enough and the adrenalin is that the mast injures the crew, evaluate them in a real-life was flowing through us all then its wreckage punctures the situation at sea. We ruled out hull and your sinks. a 12v angle grinder, which To minimise the chances of a some recommend, because ‘To prevent a drama drama turning into a total disaster, using electrical equipment on it’s vital to clear the wreckage and a wet, rolling deck is extremely turning into a cut away the quickly. But hazardous. The tools we decided disaster, it’s vital to how effective are the £30 set of to test were: bolt croppers you bought from a ■ Pliers clear the wreckage DIY store several years ago? They’ll ■ Nail pinchers probably have been buried in a ■ Hacksaw and cut away the locker and be rusted solid by the ■ Bolt croppers corrosive marine environment. ■ Cable cutters rigging quickly’ Can you use them on a wet, rolling ■ RigOff, a dismantlable deck when you need one hand bottlescrew for the ? Will the jaws’ scissor ■ Hydraulic cutters Find out what action cut through effectively? ■ Shootit, which uses a happens if you These are some of the small explosive charge break your mast Fuses break, the falls off...

32 www.yachtingmonthly.com SUMMER 2011 www.yachtingmonthly.com/dismasted video footageTo see of dramatic this test visit

ABOVE: She rolled like a drunk on a waltzer. Working on deck was a 3 seconds from sailing to stopped real challenge

Stayed by lowers, the mast snaps... the lowers’ coquilles fall out... leaving the stump unstayed... and the whole lot goes over the side

SUMMER 20119 www.yachtingmonthly.com 33 As we drift closer to shipping lanes, Mark Lees prepares to cut the rig away

What happens after a mast breaks?

Paul Lees, from Crusader , the rig goes, the shrouds, we would have been a veteran of three dismastings, ‘The backstays settled across safest places to be clipping and unclipping every forewarned the crew that a are down below, aft couple of feet. dismasting is actually fairly sedate the cockpit rather than scything of the twin backstays Add to that the chances of process, because the sails slow or lying in the accidentally clipping onto the down the action of gravity. Having down like cheesewires’ cockpit. We did as we lifelines, only to be dragged experienced it for the first time, but a split second later the mast were told and nobody was hurt. overboard as the mast slid over I’m not sure sedate is the word, collapsed with a crack that was The most notable difference the side. It would be easy to get but it certainly wasn’t as violent as just audible over the noise of the was the increased rolling. Without tangled in the wreckage and I had expected. wind. The backstays settled across the mast and sails to dampen the cordage and be dragged under. From my position at the the cockpit, rather than scything motion, the yacht rolled faster and , it looked at first as down like a cheesewire, as I had more frequently. Moving safely Recovering the if the genoa had parted feared. Paul advised us that when on deck was a hands and knees wreckage affair, except for the youngest and The plan, which couldn’t be nimblest crewman, Mark. With the completely formed until we knew yacht’s severe motion and a lack what wreckage we were dealing Dismasted at night of lifelines, we all wore lifejackets with, was to secure the stump, then Even during daylight, moving around the deck, cutting the right – there was a very real risk of remove the ’s , and distinguishing lifelines from rigging wasn’t as easy somebody falling overboard. kicker and mainsheet and stow it as you’d think. At night, I would have real concerns for the safety We didn’t clip on with tethers, below, along with the , for of anyone working on deck. A lifejacket, harness and lifeline are though, for several reasons. We potential . This would essential, as is a head torch. A decent multi-tool, in addition to your wanted freedom of movement in also clear deck space. Next, the rigging cutters, is also recommended. Check the jackstays are secure case several hundred kilogrammes outboard end of the stump would before leaving the cockpit, as they may have been damaged during of twisted aluminium suddenly be hauled alongside and inboard dismasting, and exercise extreme care on deck. decided to shift. Secondly, on a by securing lines around it and deck festooned with lines and winching it within reach. With the

34 www.yachtingmonthly.com SUMMER 2011 stump secured, we would try to 8-10mm wire rigging thrashes like haul the section alongside and baby snakes as the rig collapses. repeat the process. This second With the port-side cap and stage promised to be far more D2 loose, it snapped at the weakest difficult because of the weight of point, the lowers’ coquille fittings, water in the genoa. and tumbled over the side fairly In the half-hour I spent testing gently, its descent slowed by the the shroud cutting tools, the boom sails. Then the clear-up began and mainsail were stowed below. The mainsail was freed by cutting the halyard – but the mast stump had slipped over the side. We spent two hours hauling it back aboard, by which stage we had drifted five miles east, on wind and tide, to beyond West Lepe. After securing the stump, the We were too close to shipping first job was to get the boom and lanes to continue our test, so we mainsail below, clearing space on secured one end of a mooring line deck and leaving us enough kit for to the top section, tied a fender a jury rig. The main halyard was to the other and cut the cut at the stump, the sail hauled to ditch it (our support boat, Dave down its track, the gooseneck Kennett’s Dunlin, recovered it). unbolted and the lot moved below After checking for lines over the side, we started the engine and motored home. The lesson we learned about recovering a wrecked mast is that, on over 30-35ft, it’s just not possible for an average coastal cruising couple. Saving the boom While cutting away the rigging, and mainsail was fairly easy and the stump escaped the lashings left us something to jury-rig, but securing it and slipped over the even getting the stump aboard side. Rolling as we were, it could was extremely hard work for four easily have punched through the relatively fit and strong crew. The hull. We managed to haul it back solution is to buoy the wreckage if aboard, but it took four of us you’re in shallow water, to enable nearly three hours recovery, then cut it free. If you’re in open ocean you’ll have rather longer to recover the rig, but the What was the most sea state will make recovery even effective way to cut harder and the potential for holing the rig free? far greater. See p36 to find out

A hole in the hull This is the big worry when the mast goes over. We took some heavy gelcoat gouges in the topsides but no punctures. That may be due to the fact that our Francespar had hinged spreaders, riveted to the mast, that folded up as soon as the shrouds parted. Welded spreaders, or those supported through the mast by a rod, are stronger and would have offered the mast more support but they would also remain in place and present a greater danger of holing, making the need to ditch the all the more urgent.

We had surprisingly little damage to the hull but it was obvious how easily we could have been holed

SUMMER 20119 www.yachtingmonthly.com 35 Cutting tools on test Hacksaw with After the mast fell to leeward, we the Solent’s mainland shore. bi-metal took stock of the situation. The Then we began to free the hull boat’s momentum carried her from the wreckage, pulling out blade round to windward of the rig, but clevis pins with some tools and with wind and waves pushing the cutting shrouds with others. The around £23 hull downwind faster than the tide, Crash Test Boat had 8-10mm 1x19 It’s a false economy to the sails became a sea anchor, with stainless steel wire rigging. The buy a cheap hacksaw, the main doused to starboard and deck was wet, covered with sails, as I discovered. My genoa ballooning to port. Within rope and shrouds. Some of the £8.99 hacksaw, from a minutes the yacht scraped back to starboard stanchions were torn out DIY store, had a plastic leeward of the wreckage. Wind- of the deck and the lifelines were blade-retaining pin that rode, there she stayed, beam on to down. Without her mast, the yacht soon snapped, so we used wind and waves, drifting east up was rolling like a fairground ride. photographer Graham Snook’s sturdy metal hacksaw with a stainless steel cutting blade – standard blades will blunt quickly sawing through rigging. The leeward D2 shroud was heavily loaded and hanging over the rail. With the lifelines torn out and the boat rolling heavily, a two- Nail pincers around £4 handed tool would have presented real problems. I held the hacksaw These came from photographer Lester McCarthy’s with one hand and the mangled granny bars with the other. Though expansive and well-maintained toolkit. He had several tricky to cut accurately, with boat and rigging moving independently, pairs, but I chose the ones with jaws that opened it took just 20 seconds to cut the shroud, strand by pinging strand. wide enough to grip the head of the clevis pin. If they don’t, they’re useless for this task. In our test, these performed better than the pliers, possibly because of their condition. The advantage of being able to clamp the jaws over the head of the clevis pin makes them better suited to the task than pliers. They can be used one-handed, too, but share the same problem as the pliers: no use if there is any load in the stay, or the bottlescrew’s split pin is inaccessible.

RigOff £116.20 each Made by UK inventor Cameron Jemison, this is a bottlescrew that dismantles. A pair of two-piece rubber collars peel apart, two retaining flanges slide out and the centre section falls into three pieces. Production is small-scale, with Cameron looking for a licensee. If the product is successful, prices will come down. The RigOff was fitted to the heavily loaded leeward cap shroud. Cable cutters around £160 Despite lack of access to the underside, removing the rubber collars These came from and Paul Lees’s toolkit. Their was easy enough but the flanges didn’t fall away and weren’t going primary advantage is that an indent in one blade to be moved by hand. After a kick, the top flange fell away, followed holds the shroud captive. These are Swiss-made by the second as the unit fell apart, as designed. It’s one-handed, Felco cutters – a very decent pair, strong enough involves minimal effort and no tools but, under load, the flanges to cut six without damaging the blades – needed some persuasion. so they are expensive. Contact: Cameron Jemison Despite their size, bigger than the bolt Tel: 07788 438867 Email: [email protected] croppers, the steel-cored aluminium handles made them much lighter, but they still required two hands. Without the mechanical advantage of the bolt croppers’ cam action, they required far greater effort. With the stay held captive, I eventually placed one handle on the deck and leant all my weight on the other. They cut cleanly but there was no chance of using one hand for the ship.

36 www.yachtingmonthly.com SUMMER 2011 Bolt croppers around £80 Hydraulic cutters £1,116.53 (wire up to 14mm) Again, we plundered We borrowed these Lester’s tool kit and found from Holmatro dealer two pairs of bolt croppers, The Rig Shop in one that opened just wide Southampton. They enough to enclose the arrived in their own rigging and another that dry bag and suffered could potentially have cut no ill effects from the mast in two. I chose the their immersion former. Made in Germany, during the capsize the price and origin remain test. Due to the a mystery. pressures involved, I had expected the hydraulic equipment rigging wire to squeeze is generally heavily out of the jaws, requiring engineered and that’s reflected in the price. several chomps and They couldn’t have been simpler to use: damaging the blades, but open the jaw and close it around the stay, they cut through at the first then pump about 10 times. You can rest the attempt. Using the proven technique of the full handle on deck and operate it one-handed. range of the handles and the built-in cam action, They’re simple, effective and involve minimal I needed less grunt than I expected. These effort, but they’re expensive and exclusively were heavy, two-handed tools, so you need for cutting rigging. to yourself well. Good-quality bolt Contact: see website for nearest dealer croppers are expensive. Website: www.holmatro.com

Pliers around £7 Shootit around £499

Designed to cut through stays, this German-made Every boat has a set of pliers. They’re cheap to buy and easy to use device uses the same sort of explosive charge used in nail guns. one-handed. Ours were part of a budget Halfords toolkit. They were It worked perfectly and involved much less drama than I’d imagined. corroded after our capsize test but performed well in removing a Press the red button to open the chamber, slide in the charge strip, split pin and drawing out the clevis pin on one of the twin backstays. close it, cock it, hook the jaw around the stay, remove the safety, It took a minute to free the from its chainplate but, press the silver trigger and the shroud was severed with absolutely crucially, there was no load in the stay. Had there been, I couldn’t no effort involved. It has no other uses, however, which affects its have pulled out the clevis pin. It’s also possible that a bottlescrew value for money score, and you can’t board a plane with the charges. could fall so that the split pin was facing the deck, making it Contact: Safety Marine inaccessible without manhandling the shroud. Tel: 02380 226300 Website: www.safety-marine.co.uk

Every piece of kit Yachting Monthly tests The results is thoroughly examined against three key criteria Each of our three critera are marked out of 10 Maximum possible score Efficiency Pliers 4 8 10 How effectively does it Nail pincers 6 8 10 fulfil its primary function? Hacksaw 10 8 10 Ease of use Bolt croppers 10 6 4 Was it easy to use at sea? Cable cutters 6 2 4 Do you need two hands? RigOff 6 8 6 Value for money Hydraulic cutters 10 10 2 Do we want one enough to spend our own money? Shootit 10 8 4

SUMMER 20119 www.yachtingmonthly.com 37 How to avoid dismasting ■ Check your rig ■ Check mainsail Provided it’s free of structural issues and barring a knockdown, a rig track sliders, cars never just fails. There are always signs of imminent failure and they’re or not difficult to spot. Catch them in time and you will save your spar. Just as a snapped furler line will leave you with far too much sail ■ Check and tape split pins up, losing a few mainsail track They may seem insignificant sliders or tearing out your main’s but, make no mistake, a bolt rope can leave the sail handful of properly fitted bulging to leeward. In a matter split pins will save your of seconds the wind can strip mast. Without them, out the others, leaving you with bottlescrews and clevis pins a where your mainsail work loose and you’ll lose used to be. Check the fastenings the lot. Use the biggest split to both mast and sail are secure, Are your sliders all secure? pin that will fit the hole, pack repair if you’re in any doubt. If one fails, the rest could follow any space with stainless steel washers, insert the pin, spread both its legs into an anchor shape and secure with tape or a blob of silicone.

■ Check shroud terminals Securing mooring lines to shroud bases is never a good idea because the loading can deform rigging toggles and weaken bottlescrews, creating uneven loading and increasing the chances of failure through fatigue. If there isn’t a handy, use genoa cars, or padeyes instead. For , check the top of the swage and look for any broken strands. If you find some, replace that shroud and its opposite.

Signs of failure at swages and ■ Send a rigger T-terminals are up the mast always evident. There is no tension in the stays Check the mast of an unstepped mast, and that terminals, too means broken strands can creep back into the swage, giving the appearance that nothing’s ■ Check your furler and line wrong. Once a season, send a Check the furling line. Make sure the lead onto the drum is fair rigger aloft. He can check for and that there are no chafe points. If it’s looking tired, replace it. broken strands at the top of Remember, if the furling line breaks in a blow, you’ll have far too shrouds, cracks in terminals, much sail up for the conditions and the loads will be critical. Also, or in the mast around terminal INSETS ABOVE: Vibration can check the grub screws on the collar where the drum meets the luff fittings, and make sure your cause to come undone tube. The forestay shakes tremendously during tacks and those grub shackles are properly seized and over time. Seizing them with screws can easily come loose. Secure them with PVC or Loctite. your sheaves are in good order. wire or cable ties prevents it

YACHTING MONTHLY’S CRASH TEST BOAT SERIES IS BROUGHT TO YOU IN ASSOCIATION WITH...

38 www.yachtingmonthly.com SUMMER 2011 What we learned

It may have been a test but the tension was real enough

■ Manage your canvas The old adage states: ‘If you’re thinking about it, it’s time to reef.’ Barrelling along with the rail under is all good schoolboy stuff but it’s neither comfortable nor especially quick and you are stressing Cutting stays six or more stays. If you choose the rig unnecessarily. You The results were a surprise to me bolt croppers, don’t skimp, and wouldn’t drive your car at but, as I’m unaware of any other make sure the jaws open wide 50mph in second gear and dismasted yacht that has been enough to enclose the stay fully. a boat is no different. able to test in anger every practical You will already have a pair of method of cutting shrouds, pliers or nail pinchers on board. I’ll stand by these findings. For unloaded stays, they offer Significantly, we proved that a simple, cost-effective, multi- loaded and unloaded stays are purpose solution but they won’t very different beasts and that tools help on loaded stays. Don’t even you can use one-handed have try. That amount of stainless steel a major advantage, particularly whipping back at speed could when the lifelines have been cause injury. swept away. The RigOff is a clever piece If you can afford them, the of engineering and a refreshing The forestay’s split pin was hydraulic cutters and the Shootit approach to the problem. Bearing never going to be pulled out were the simplest, quickest and in mind it was heavily loaded and easiest ways to cut wire stays. the shroud was over the side, its loaded because of your genoa- A decent hacksaw, with bi-metal slightly recalcitrant performance cum-sea anchor, so you’re unlikely stainless steel-cutting blades, is is still creditable. You need at least to be able to remove the clevis pin. also effective, can be used one- six for an average rig, so it’s With the forestay bent over the handed and has other uses. Make not cheap, but you’d save on the pulpit, the wire was exposed in ■ Trim sails properly sure you have spare blades that cost of six standard bottlescrews. one place, between the drum and Leaving sails to flog – even are protected against corrosion. The forestay was the last to be the luff foil section. The gap wasn’t that pesky bit at the top of Much to my surprise, the bolt cut, and the trickiest. With the wide enough to use the Shootit the genoa’s leech – shortens croppers worked very well – much furling gear surrounding the stay, or the Holmatro cutters and it the life of the sail and shakes quicker and easier than the cable removing the split and clevis pins was moving around too much for the entire rig. Get you know cutters, despite their weight and was a good theoretical solution. hacksawing. Crusader Sails’ Mark your sail controls and learn as two-handed operation. But are However, during our dismasting, Lees clamped the cable cutters much as you can about sail trim you prepared to spend over £70 the toggle took such a battering, around the exposed wire and, after without laying yourself open to for a decent set that you’re unlikely deforming as it fell across the a few seconds contorting himself accusations of racing. Your sails to use? Probably not. A cheap pair, anchor, that the split pin could not into a position where he could and your rig will last longer and even if they haven’t rusted solid, be removed. Even if it could, the generate the required leverage, you’ll enjoy sailing more – and won’t be up to the job of cutting forestay is almost certain to be the stay parted. cut a more experienced dash on the water. Find out how we tried – and nearly failed – to break our mast. See p40

SUMMER 20119 www.yachtingmonthly.com 39 How we did it The Crash Test team Chris Beeson, ‘We set out with skipper Over 30 years’ a WSW Force 5-7, sailing. 40,000 ocean miles logged, including occasionally 8. three Fastnet Races, two Bramblemet transatlantic crossings, one non-stop Round Britain and was recording a Ireland Race. Author of the steady 30 knots’ Handbook of Survival at Sea Paul Lees, consultant Founder and principal of Crusader Sails, sailmaking for over 40 years. Veteran of the 1979 Fastnet Race, former skipper of J Class Velsheda, highly experienced inshore and offshore racer. Has also been a boatbuilder – 32 boats launched.

We needed at least 20 knots of above: We were charging Mark Lees, crew wind for this test. We set out around at 10 knots while Mark, 19, is a former from Lymington with a forecast preparing to break the mast junior WSW Force 5-7, occasionally 8. national champion, Bramblemet was recording a left : Jerry Henwood and Mark RYA youth national match steady 30 knots. Despite wind- Lees replace the stainless steel racing champion and has with-tide, we thought it would be clevis pins with 10mm fibreglass held many other junior titles. more than enough. battens - but they wouldn’t break! Currently, he is a helmsman We had an entire neap flood for the British Keelboat tide and the whole of the western battens to shear. Academy, racing Niklas Solent to play with before we Unstayed, the top of the mast Zennstrom’s Farr 45, Kolga. troubled any shipping. We made arched to leeward. With a full sure there was enough water to genoa on a sagging forestay in Jerry Henwood, avoid digging the masthead into 30 knots of wind, and the lowers consultant the seabed, ‘pole-vaulting’ the holding the first spreaders in place, A lifelong sailor, boat over the spar and risking the mast took on an S shape as the Jerry runs his own damage below the waterline. and a third of the genoa unrolled, compression loading crushed rigging business from his With three reefs in the mainsail we were storming around at 9-10 it on its step. Three seconds later workshop in Gosport. Every knots. We planned to dismast the masthead hit the water. year, Admiral Marine Ltd her just above the first spreaders The break was at the point (owner of the Crash Test by replacing the clevis pins on where the coquille terminals Boat) send Jerry to Las the leeward cap shroud and for the fore and aft lowers were Palmas to check the rigs D2 with short lengths of 10mm positioned. These require four of yachts taking part in the fibreglass batten, or ‘fuses’, while apertures in the mast and, once Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. on starboard , then tack over, the cap shroud and D2 had parted, harden up and wait for the bang. that was the weakest point. Steve Adams, Mark and Jerry went forward to The coquilles for the lowers then TV producer insert the ‘fuses’, taped them up sprang out, leaving the stump With 20 years’ and came aft. The battens were unsupported. It bounced off its experience in TV far stronger than anyone thought step and fell overboard. W production, Steve now makes – the rig didn’t budge. ‘Next time video footage for YachtingTV. someone tells me they’ve broken a co.uk, which has included batten, I’m going to ask them how Atlantic and Biscay crossings. they did it,’ marvelled Paul. He’s a passionate sailor and Undeterred, we wore around, always looking for exciting, gybing heavily enough to pull a adventurous ways of bringing mainsheet off the boom. We sailing to life on TV. replaced the 10mm battens with 6mm, tacked onto port again and waited. And waited. Finally, Paul called for more headsail and Mark With the cap shroud and D2 free, accidentally let it all out. With the The egg-shaped holes for the lower the topmast fell away. Still stayed genoa shaking violently, the loads coquilles proved to be a weak at the lowers, it had to break were finally high enough for the point. That’s where it broke

40 www.yachtingmonthly.com SUMMER 2011