The Top climber is an amazing improvement on conventional Bosun’s chair and it can be operated by a single person. In other words the sailor does not need any help from anyone again to climb up the mast.  The TOPCLIMBER is manufactured by ATN. The chair uses rock-climbing principles in boat vlimbing and ensures the sailor to pull himself up the mast with minimum effort.

The chair lets the sailor use his leg muscles to climb up, thus saving a lot of full-body exhaustion. The set up time is minimal and the rugged construction ensures durability over years of use. The TOPCLIMBER rises on a static line, which is tautly placed between a deck and a mast head, thus preventing swaying away from the mast, helplessly, even when the boat heels over.

The TOPCLIMBER package consists of a Bosun’s chair with back rest and one-way jammer; and leg straps, with foot loops and one way jammer.

The operation is done by alternatively standing up and plunging back into the Bosuns chair. The standing force slides up the one way jammer of the chair and the sitting back lets the one way jammer of the leg strap slide up. The reverse operation lets the coming down from the mast.

ATN proudly declares the TOPCLIMBER as the only Bosuns chair that “allows the operator to work ABOVE the mast head without leaving the chair”.

ATN top-climbers do not often have a ‘spacer strap’. This is because ATN took a survey of top climbers with and without ‘spacer straps’. The general opinion was that the presence of a spacer strap does not hinder a climb, nor does it assist much in the climbing.

ATN recommends buying a piece of line dedicated to climbing the ATN top-climber. ATN suggests the top end of the line to bowlined through the spliced eye of the halyard and bypass the snap shackle. Bypassing will be best for both safety reasons and gaining a few more inches at the mast. As for the deck end of the static line, ATN suggests to feed it through a rigid snatch block and then onto a winch. This will make the line stiff and best tight for climbing up.

ATN TOP-CLIMBER Bosun’s bag is priced at 430.00$. ATN also suggests the purchase of ATN static line for the purpose. The specifications of the ATN static line are 1.50$/foot of low stretch ½” double braid.