I’m in the water (1986 NS 26 C #190), and recently had to replace the cable that runs between the top of the mast ( which failed) and the aft end of the wishbone, which then let go. Luck would have it, I had a fellow YC member that went up the mast in a bosun chair using the starboard main halyard. It would have been safer if I had a second halyard in case the main somehow let go. Is the port “flag” halyard block beefy enough to support a second “emergency halyard?
I think many will be reluctant to encourage this because it depends on specifically what’s on your mast, and the consequences of being wrong are high.
Flag halyard cheek blocks are typically the smallest blocks around. I did a quick search and not all of the manufacturers even bother to tell you what their product’s safe working load is. They’re also typically not sized to handle line over 3/8ths of an inch, so even if you have a block that will handle the load, you’d need to be sure you’re using a high-tech line with more than adequate breaking strength there also.
Based on what’s at the top of my mast, I certainly wouldn’t risk it on my boat.
– Bob
Solar Wind
Nonsuch 26C #143
Probably not. If it is a cheek block side mounted it was not designed with that in mind
More to the point, is the flag halyard block strong enough? I replaced our original somewhat undersized block with a much stronger halyard cheek block that was attached with four ¼" machine screws tapped into the mast. If you have to go to the top you can use the flag halyard to pull a stronger line through. But even that arrangement needs to be tested.
Two or three times I have witnessed the successful retrieval of a lost halyard by utilizing a second similar sailboat (a Nonsuch is preferable for lack of spreaders) along side. Someone goes aloft on the second boat loosely holding both ends of a piece of line that is led around the mast of the first boat. When high enough the two masts are pulled together and the lost halyard can then be grasped and pulled back to within reach of someone on the deck. This technique should work for other repairs as well.
Bill Spencer - LIONHEART, NS30U 352 Hyde Park, NY
Mike Quill built Me a new mast collar with a double halyard block, then a new block at the mast head. I now have a double halyard capability which can be used as a halyard or for a Bosunschair inanemergency. Bob Horne, 1989 N26C, 249, Encore, Pocasset, MA.