I actually saw them do that on the ICW to get under one fixed bridge several years back. Works pretty good to shorten your masthead height......the people I saw do it were up by Coinjock and used 2 55 gallon drums filled with water.
Ah, fine work Captain. Now what if it were to go all wrong? Would Insurance cover this? And under what Clause? The "Captains got Balls!" condition? Of course, it would be a "Balls Up!" claim. Remember, you started this one Carl...
I've seen this video. It still amazes me. Based up the calmness and smoothness of the execution, this fella must hang his balls out regularly.
There's a company that provides that service regularly on the Okeechobee waterway through Florida. They use 55 gal drums filled with water.
We used to load up locals from Indaintown on the boom swung out many many moons ago. However, if the mast was that tall, we knew another call would come in and also went out and pulled them off the bottom a few times near the mid lake dawg-leg. Same drill, kids on the boom bringing the keel off the bottom. I can only hope the snail-boters figured it out.