Had a very busy few minutes this Sunday when the halyard parted 10 seconds from the start with very aggressive boats alongside, ahead and astern. The sail just draped over everything until we could get it into the wishbone. Made it through without contact, though. It was on my list to be replaced. Should have moved it to the top of the list.
Joe Valinoti
S/V IL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
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Hi Joe
Not strictly related to your comment but I do feel that a single halyard is a vulnerability. On my boat I have a block, jammer etc for a spare halyard but I can see nowhere at the mast head to fix a spare block. Can anyone help with a suitable location?
Many thanks
Mike Hayes
No Rival
Haslar Marina
UK
Hi
Thank you very much. That's most useful!
Kind Regards
Mike
Mike, FWIW, I thought our boat was only rigged with a single halyard. For the first couple years I rigged a spare halyard on the cheek block shown in the photo but the lead is not really ideal so it could only really be used for short term emergencies. I bought a spare sheave from Murray Cressman or Mike Quill. When I took the mast truck off to install it, I discovered there was a second sheave already installed. So, you may want to take a look at what you already have. If you do have a second sheave, you will probably want to install a halyard exit fitting on the starboard side of the mast so you can run the spare inside the mast.
Hi
I've never had the mast down on No Rival and I'm not sure the cheek block is even fitted. It wasn't obvious trying to spot it through binoculars from the deck but now I know what to look for it may well be there. The mast on my boat evidently broke sometime in the past and it's possible it was deleted then.
I had only envisaged it as a short term fix if a problem arose with the main halyard and to provide some additional security should you need to climb the mast.
Many thanks for your input. There's not many boats of this sort this side of the pond so expertise is a bit thin on the ground!
Kind Regards
Mike
