Stage Four of Follow the Rig By RSB Rigging and BSI Marine

The rigging for S/Y Beagle V has arrived back from BSI Marine Equipment Group (thank you for the safe delivery BSI!) and we are moving swiftly into the Stage 4 of the yacht rigging process. We have talked through the stages 1-3 of our #followtherig program, 'Stage 4’ is the dressing of the mast and re-stepping on board the yacht.

With approximately a week to go before the re-step the mast is moved into an area large enough for the spreaders to be remounted and the redressing procedure with the rods or cables to be started. With all these in position the butt bar is mounted horizontally across the base of the mast allowing the vertical and diagonal shrouds to be tensioned up against it using chain blocks. The tensioning of the cap shrouds and D1’s stabilises the mast during the initial lift to vertical by the crane. With the butt bar in position and the shrouds tensioned the padding and protection is added in the areas that require it and the lifting slings are measured out on the mast and positioned so that the hook of the crane is clear of the mast-head.

On the day of the re-step the cranes arrive early to set up as close to the boat as possible. The mast, foils and boom are moved to the lifting area where the cranes will be used to lift the forestay foils and the furler units onto the mast where they are secured using chain blocks to the butt bar. After a final check has been carried out on the mast and rigging the primary crane is connected into the lifting strops at the head of the mast and the smaller crane takes the weight of the bottom of the rig.

The stepping procedure starts with both cranes lifting the rig horizontally before the main crane continues the lift and the smaller crane lowers and manoeuvres the butt until the mast is vertical. The rig is then lowered carefully down so the butt bar is sitting on two pallet trollies and the tension on the rods and furler motors is eased allowing the butt bar to be disconnected and moved out of the way. The mast is then swung into position over the deck before being slowly lowered through the mast partners, through the interior and on to the mast step.

During this procedure there is continual communication via Bluetooth headsets between the team on deck controlling the crane and connecting up the shrouds and head stays and the team below decks who are feeding the multitude of cables and hydraulic hoses into position and lining up the mast foot with the step. This is a procedure that at times requires minute movements to position the mast on the step correctly and is not a job for the faint-hearted! While the main crane is working on the stepping procedure the smaller crane used for the butt end of the mast will position itself close to the bow of the yacht so that it can be hooked into a strop on the heavy headstay furler motor. As the rig is lowered through the partners the smaller butt crane swings the furler motor out to the bow where it can be pinned in position. Often if there are two head stays with furler motors they are linked together so the crane can manoeuvre both into position at the same time.

Once the rig is in place and the standing rigging connected the mast jacks can be pumped up to put tension into the shrouds allowing the crane to unload the lifting strops. During this time a couple of halyards are set up and run to winches allowing one of the riggers to go aloft to disconnect the crane which then starts preparing to lift the vang onto the deck followed by the boom which will be pinned in position and secured using halyards while the vang ram is connected enabling it to take the full weight of the boom.

With the stepping completed the cranes are signed off and the decks and mast step area are tidied up in preparation for the rig tune procedure.

#rsbrigging #bsimarine #yachtrigging #pendennisyachts