Breaking the Pink/Blue Color Divide

While it may not fit the progressive narrative about equality of the sexes, it appears there is something of a natural division of labor on sailboats. In the overwhelming number of cases, men do most of the sailing and the mechanical chores, while women do the cooking and cleaning. Blue jobs and pink jobs.

There are exceptions, of course. Liz Baylis and Melinda Erkelens, for example, are outstanding helmswomen. Dawn Riley worked the pit in her America’s Cup syndicate boat. Ashley Perrin has run the bow on a number of racing boats. Doña de Mallorca changes the engine and transmission oil on Profligate. And on the male side, a lot of men are great cooks. We’ve even heard rumors of a few men who wash dishes and clean.

One of the tasks done the least by women is going up the mast, which is why our interest was sparked by a photo of Debbie Hayward-Sciarretta atop the mast of her and her husband Mark’s Zigzag, Oregon-based Santana 30/30 Yesterday’s Girl. Mark sets the scene:

"Last winter some birds broke the Windex atop our Columbia River boat. While I’m usually up for going to the top of the mast, my chemo treatments for prostate cancer have resulted in a 25-lb weight gain along with a serious loss of both muscle and stamina. As a result, I couldn’t haul myself up the mast as I’d done in the past, nor could I grind Debbie up, nor could she grind me up. As I’d recently purchased a Winchrite electric winch handle online for $465, this was almost the perfect opportunity to check it out. I say ‘almost’ because our proper boatswain’s chair was hidden away in the garage, so we had to use an REI rock-climbing harness that I hadn’t used in years. Debbie was a real trooper to go up using that."

38: Debbie, how long were you up for?
Debbie: About 45 minutes.

38: Had you been up a mast before?
Debbie: Yes. Before we were married I’d gone up on Mark’s Lagoon 380 cat Younger Girl. But that time I didn’t have to be up as long because I had a proper bosun’s chair. I didn’t like the REI climbing harness from the get-go, as it was uncomfortable, and it made the job take much longer. Make sure you have a proper bosun’s chair before going up a mast.

38: Did you drop anything while replacing the Windex?
Debbie: Just one screwdriver. It missed Terry Ray’s head by about 18 inches. Nobody should be beneath somebody working up a mast.

38: Do you have a fear of heights?
Debbie: No. But you do have to trust whoever is in charge of the halyard. And I trust my husband. I’d go up again if we had the right chair. Not bad for a woman of — ha, ha, ha — 47, right?

38: We’re very impressed. Do you know of other women who have gone up the mast?
Debbie: My friend Terry Ray, who took the photos and who is a 50-Ton Coast Guard Master. Jane Roy. There have been a few others.

38: You’ve gone up, but have you — and we know this sounds terrible — gone down, as in cleaned the bottom?
Debbie: I’ve done a little of that, but we normally hire people to do the bottom.

38: Mechanical work?
Debbie: No.

There are two times when women going up the mast have really stuck in our minds. One of them was when we were crewing on Roy Disney’s 86-ft Pyewacket, when Ashley Perrin was going up and down the mast of that huge machine like a yo-yo. We were not the only ones who were very impressed. The other was when Heather Cosaro went to the top of Profligate’s 90-feet-above-the-water masthead. Part of what impressed us was the swagger and fearlessness with which Heather went aloft. The other part of what impressed us was what Heather was wearing at the time — a pirate outfit complete with high-heeled, thigh-high boots. You don’t see that too often. Too bad the photos were blurry.

If you’re a woman who has gone to the top of a mast, we’d like to hear about it and recognize you. What were the circumstances? How tall was the mast? Any tips? And would you do it again? If you’re an ‘Up and Down’ sailor, meaning you’ve gone up the mast and cleaned a boat bottom, all the better. Send replies to Richard.