A system for one person raising and lowering the mast of a sailboat
wherein the mast is less than about forty feet in length and in the down
position the mast is laid horizontally along a median line of the hull of
a sailboat. The system includes rigging to raise the height of the mast
from the hull and then to pivot the mast with the pivot being near the
lowest point of the mast. Means is provided to pivot the mast about the
lowest point of the mast until the mast is in a vertical position. The
mast is then brought down into an upstanding vertical position with means
to support the mast on the sailboat at the mast's lowest point and
upwardly therefrom. The same rigging may be used to lower the mast to the
horizontal. The operations occur by a winch located towards the rear of
the sailboat to either pay out a line thereon when lowering the mast to
the horizontal or conversely to take up the line when the mast is pivoted
to the vertical.