Fred Dibnah worried me where he had to climb outwards to get onto a few planks at the top of some chimbley he was pulling down with hammer and chisel. Prostate cancer is the last thing I'd have expected him to die of.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Vortex7 saying something like:
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Dave saying something like:
Hornblower, final scene in one of the early episodes. Helicopter shot, rather well done, from close-up to pulling away into the distance.
To say he was a thrill seeker would be an understatement - look for the vids of some of the free jumps he did!
Well I suppose if he weighs about 80kg, that 400' ascent would be a gain of 150KJ (or 36K calories - not a bad exercise program!). Which since he did it in 4:20 or thereabouts means he is putting out work at getting on for 600W - so a bit over 3/4 hp
(I think I could stick out well over 600W - only not for 4 mins!)
Probably stuffed left right and centre with hidden safety features.
Pete mentioned up-thread about going aloft on a square rigger but back in the days when that was commonplace there was no safety gear.
And not so long ago when HMS Ganges (stone frigate at Shotley) was operational as a training school for boy sailors they used to dress the mast at the passing out parade with one boy standing on the button.
Seems its on the net as well:
But perhaps this is case where H&S rules aren't quite such a daft idea?
Incidentally according to the Wikipdia article access to it is actually illegal (though minimally enforced).
David
Not 'is', but 'was', sadly:
David
They used to do it at the Royal Tournament at Earl's Court too, until it was shelved 11 years ago:
I saw it once - quite a spectacle. I see it's being revived again this year:
David
Indeed - I really don't like heights at all; but the glass floor didn't bother me in the slightest whereas I'd rather shoot myself than climb that antenna tower.
David
I've never worked above gutter height and certainly won't now. Although I'm considerably better padded than in years gone by (of which there are a fair number), I seem to bounce much less well.
That's called "Dressing (or Manning) the mast (or yards)" and I've seen it done at Naval open days (my father was in the Royal Navy) several times. It's usually done to music (a slow march - the people manning the mast climb the rigging in time). There's some poor sod (the "button boy") who gets to stand on the very top.
There's a rather small photograph here;
I have a similar photo, although it predates digital photography, so I couldn't easily post it.
standing on the footrope is forbidden, so no standing on top of it like they are in that picture. Although I have done when working on things up there, probably serving and blacking. The rules aren't as strictly applied to Deckhands doing maintenance, compared to Voyage Crew.
Pete
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Roger Chapman saying something like:
Still, I'm glad that some were mad enough.
IIRC there was some controversy over his death, due to getting arrested or something? That being the cause of the equipment being left out and exposed to the elements for an extended period, which some suggest was part of the reason for the rope failure.
I agree the "button boy" part is a bit mental, but the rest of it really isn't all that hard. What I hadn't appreciated at first was that they have a line at waist height above the yards for the guys stood on them to hold onto. That would actually work out quite comfy, compared to the footropes which do my back in after a while (especially with novices leaning backwards instead of forwards).
One of the links posted mentioned that the Shotley mast was only compulsory as high as the crosstrees or "half moon" - going any higher was volunteers only.
None of the videos I've seen show the button boy actually getting into place; I can't imagine getting onto the top of something like that with nothing above it to hold onto, and I'd be curious to see the technique.
Pete
I've never been good with heights, but recall, during a spell (years ago) at Eggborough power station, visiting the boiler house. The floor at 135 ft was open mesh. If you looked down, as you moved, it blurred and disappeared. The only solution, to avoid tripping over stuff, was to look far enough away that it appeared solid.
Chris
At 130 feet on the 142 foot high mast.
Tricky. There is a rock climbing technique called mantleshelfing that might suffice but the mast button has considerably less width than is usually available on a mantle shelf or even on a rock face. It would be easy enough (ignoring the exposure) if the button was a bit bigger (as anyone who has bothered to stand on the actual summit of Tryfan in Snowdonia will know).
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