J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Taking Rig Down

First season is over. We had our last race last night. It has been a great year.
I am taking the rig down myself pretty soon, and I thought I would ask for input.
I am assuming the point to strap the mast is below the spreader and above the point where the lower shrouds connect into the mast.
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris

roger, roger ...
Top photo is how it is NOT supposed to be done ... but it did work ... duh. by pure luck it did not slip the lower shroud hardware out of mast. In any case the mast does not just hang there, and is pretty much balanced but requires handholding at the base. safely a two man job at base as it comes out and goes in. In any case a four man carry for safety. It is heavier than it looks.

We remove the lowers from the deck before we attaché the line to the mast. Thus the line or strap is connected at the spreaders, not below the lowers as in the picutre

I just remembered why the photo I labeled as NOT the way to do it [above] worked ... there is a loop on the end of the lifting arm through which a line locks it in place and runs down the mast and was tied onto one of the turning blocks near the bottom of the mast ... this locks the loop from slipping up and disconnecting the lower shrouds. once that line to the bottom of the mast is loosened, with a couple of flips loosens the loop around the mast which then slips down the mast.

Chris,
One more thing that can get in the way is the height of your crane.
I was unlucky with my Club crane - which is missing about 6 feet.
The mast is not that heavy - less than a Laser hull... about 130 pounds - but quite high when vertical.

Good luck.

You can do as Vic has shown in his picture by tying a line to the lifting strap; thus shortening the lifting height. We found that lifting at the spreaders makes a pretty good balance point for the mast. Shortening the lifting point by 6' would seem to create a very "top heavy" situation

Don't know if it matters, but we have the thru bar mast modification for our spreaders which makes us a bit more confident in using the spreaders as a leverage point