[Rhodes22-list] Mast raising land or water

[Joe Babb]

Ken,
Sharon and I have raised the mast of Harmony over land, on water at a 
dock, and on water at anchor in a quiet cove.
It's all possible.  All the things the others have mentioned are 
important.  You might consider wearing a pfd over water just in case as 
well as putting down the swim ladder (40 degree water, brrrrr).  I have 
a system that works pretty well for me.  I have a small plastic box that 
contains one of everything I need (clevis pins, screws, etc) that I keep 
closed unless I'm removing a part.  I still need to attach some sort of 
bobber to the box.  I keep spares of everything in a separate tool bag 
that stays in the cockpit.  I have made an outline of the procedure to 
refer to before raising and lowering.  We trailer sail, so we do this 
quite a bit, but in the heat of battle I worry about raising the mast 
without removing ALL the bungies I've used to hold the jib to the mast.  
So a simple outline helps.
BTW, I've found a 1000 uses for the bungies that are made as loops with 
a plastic ball.  You can get them in various sizes.  I use them to help 
hold the jib and boom to the mast when we pack up to go on the road.  I 
also use them to hold the backstays and main shrouds to the rear mast 
crutch.  It makes a neat controllable coil.
Hope this helps,
Joe