At a quiet anchorage this week the swell coming in from the Pacific caused quite a bit of rolling overnight and some mysterious noises, one of which was a muted clanging with two “notes”. A roll to port produced one note and a roll to starboard produced a slightly different sound but similar in tone. The sound is kind of like wood hitting the inside of a metal tube, a bell like tone. These seem to be coming from the mast area. My halyards are not causing it, and the upper choker block is padded and sounds different when lightly struck against the mast.
So my question is this: Could there be something loose internal to the mast rattling around? This is driving me nuts while trying to sleep.
Blake Payette
N33 Procyon
West coast of Vancouver Island