Mast Stepping near mishap

[stevewitt1]

Sunday I decided (against every urge in my body & soul) to step my mast for the season.  After raising it about 2" above the tabernacle our gin pole broke.
Just glad nobody was hurt, or worse. 
Does anyone have any idea how much our masts weigh? With standing rigging and a Hood furling system attached?
Steve

[Joe Holmes]

My guess is around 300lbs.  At our club we recently condemned an old mast stepper after yet another close call, due to a combination of overload (it was originally intended for the 26 foot boats common about 25 yrs ago), lack of knowledge, and condition.  We decided we could no longer afford the liability.  Now we organize a few evenings with a mobile crane or boom truck- when a group are ready and experienced, it does not take long or cost an excessive amount.  It is useful to have someone with mast stepping experience running the crane- he knows about wind instruments and mast lights etc.

[Tom Soko]

Steve,
I asked that question of Gerry Douglas a number of years ago about my C36. His answer was about 600#.

[Jim Hardesty]

Tom,
Was that for the standard mast, or one with a furling main?
Jim

[Indian Falls]

My question is who in their right mind would employ a telephone pole for a gin pole?  Pressure treated street light pole whatever it was, was a bad idea.

[Tom Soko]

Jim,
That was for the standard mast.  There might be a slight difference between a std rig and tall rig, but I don't think much.  I have no idea what a furling mast might weigh.

[Dave Spencer]

I have always guesstimated 350 lbs or so for our keel stepped std rig mast, furling and about 500ft of line on the mast.  This is what the gin pole has to lift excluding any "stiction" associated with freeing the mast from the partner wedges.  600 lbs sounds heavy to me, even for a C36.  We have a good gin pole at our marina.  It sits in a giant sized bearing scavenged years ago from a very large generator.  The bearing is embedded in about 6 m3 of concrete.  We lift masts far heavier than ours with this rig including some unstayed "telephone pole" masts from a Freedom and Nonsuch yacht.
I agree that the telephone pole shown in the photo above is more suited to lifting smaller masts from 22 - 27 ft boats than that of a C34.  I shudder to think of what would happen if a gin pole let go at an inopportune moment.  Steve, I'm so glad nobody was hurt and there was no damage (of course other than the pole itself).
Here's a picture of our gin pole lifting our mast last weekend at Lion's Head... a sad day.  We lift our boats out for the season this weekend.