Raising a Sailboat Mast - the EASY way

Article By Shorty
Raising a Sailboat Mast - the EASY way
Masts that are 26 feet or smaller are very easy to raise. The following is the technique I use, and most of the time I can have the boat ready to launch within 10 minutes of arriving at the ramp.

Stuff Needed:
1 - A mast step that has some kind of hinge or cross bolt so you can attach the bottom of the mast to it, and it won't slide off the deck.
2 - A piece of line about 10' long.

Here are the steps:
- attach one end of the jib halyard to the bow
- attach the piece of line to the other end of the jib halyard
- scoot the mast back, so the bottom is attached to the step, and the rest of it is laying in a crutch, which is probably the same crutch you use to carry the mast.
- straighten out all the stays so they won't snag on anything
- from the aft of the cockpit, start lifting the mast and walk forward as you do
- when you get as far forward as you can, and you are holding the mast as high as you can with your hand, grab the jib halyard and start pulling on it. This will raise the mast up to the vertical position.
- cleat the jib halyard so the mast is now fixed in the vertical position
- you may now let go, move forward and attach the forestay.



There are lots of other little time savers you can do. When you go launch your boat, try and keep track of what you are doing, that takes time and figure solutions to reduce that time. The quicker and easier your boat is to launch, the more you will take her sailing.



I highly recommend that while you trailer your boat, you have a mast support in the middle of the mast that stands up on the step.