broken mast

vege_pie

New Member
hi there i was just wondering wat is the best thing to do when u have just broke a mast or have one fall down on you out on the water i have had it happen to me twice in one week when i was away at a sailing school event sailing a sunburst but most of the time i sail a laser 4.7 any ideas?




here is the video of the mast falling down on the sunburst :eek:

 
By mast falling down, do you mean capsize?



noway i a not that stupid lol

like when the side stay breaks on a boat and the mast comes down and lands on you or when you break one of the sections of the mast on your laser thats what i want to know what to do when that happens.
 
It took me a while to figure this out. The boat that has a mast failure is not the boat featured in the center of the frame. Look at the boats behind to see the demasting.

I have only had one mast failure and that was the traditional break of the upper right at the junction. I was hiking out when the failure happened. Could not understand why the boat suddenly was not healling as much. I quickly pulled my body into the boat to prevent a windward capsize and meet the tip of the mast as it swung down. Hit me right in the eye. I was only 100 feet away from the launch point and simply limped back to dock.

Iced my eye but still had a nice black and blue.

Lessons learned:
1) Always check for metal fatigue on your upper.
2) Always wear a life jacket. Even on a bright sunny windless day.
3) Always tell somebody when you expect to return (float plan).
4) Always carry some "Mad Money" in your life jacket for an emergency.

But I still do not know what I would have done had I been far from shore. I would have likely disconnected the outhaul, and used the main sheet to tie up the sail and then simply wait for a rescue.
 

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