Going up in the world

My friend Walter’s hearing is not great and mine is probably worse. When we’re sailing two-handed, we rely a lot on hand signals. Offshore on a dark night on my Westerly GK34, I fumbled with a shackle and lost a halyard up the mast.

In an effort to make the loss good, I hurried aloft as fast as I could, me climbing and Walter winching like mad. I was close to the top when I realised the pressure was on my armpits and not the crotch area. The bowline was level with my glasses.

It was then that I discovered I had hooked on to my lifejacket and not the climbing harness, which I’d strapped on in a big hurry. The next few minutes should have been comical. I was pointing at the deck and shouting, ‘Down! Down!’ Walter was giving me a big thumbs up and shouting, ‘Keep going! You’re nearly there!’

It was a long way up the second time, very carefully connected to the climbing harness.