Up in the yards

6 August 2017

A member of the guest crew writes:
“Boudewijn waved me over. “We need to make tight the sails on the topsail masts”, he called. “George, Denis, gear up and follow me”. We grabbed the safety harnesses from the box, put them on and followed him to the main mast and looked up. There, more than 90 feet above us, the yards of the topsails beckoned. It was a first. I’d climbed the mast to the crowsnest before, but never thought I’d be working my way across the yards, gathering in sail and tying it off, balancing on a thin wound wire. “Let’s go”, he said and raised himself off the deck and edged out over the ship rail and on to the rope ladders leading up. Denis went up second and I third. Denis was assigned to the top sail and I the upper top sail, another 20 feet above him. We climbed, clipping the claw of the safety harness above us as we worked our way up. We worked our way around the crowsnest from the starboard to port side. I edged past Denis and began my climb up the Hillary ladder to the upper topsail yard. Boudewijn had climbed the starboard ladder with the ease of a professional sailor and was waiting when I arrived. “Clip on to this wire, it runs the length of the yard and then slide your feet out onto the stranded wire below you”. I clipped on and slid my feet out from the safety of a thick rope to a strand of wire thin enough for a tightrope walker. It was loose and moved with the motion of my body. With my wobbly knees that meant forward and backwards as I tried my best to just remain stationary. “Now I want you to stretch up as far as you can and lean over the yard and push your feet back as far as they can go. The object is to work up here with your hands and they must be free to do the job of gathering in sail and tying them off with the little ropies”. There was a moment’s hesitation while my body adjusted to what my mind was planning. It was time to believe in the safety harness, the rigging and maybe a higher power. I leaned forward almost belly over the yard, pushed my feet out behind me and let go. Both hands free and high in the air. Boudewijn smiled and set me to work gathering sail, folding it under and tying it off. “Can you do it?”, he asked as he pointed farther out on the yard. I desperately wanted to say no, but for some reason, unknown to me “yes” came out of my mouth. “Great”, he said and abruptly turned to climb down to the topsail to help Denis. I was on my own high above the deck in rolling seas, balanced on a wire, leaning over the yard. Only one thing to do: start working. I shuffled out a little farther, gathered in the sail and tied it down. Then out farther and finally working my way to the tip of the yard. Other than being critical of a landlubber’s knots, Boudewijn gave it the thumbs up. Neat and tidy. A long climb back down to the deck, a look back up, a sigh of relief and then high fives all round in celebration of a job well done. Denis and I looked at each other with the same satisfied expression and I’m sure the same gut reaction. We did it.”