The halyard is the handy little item that attaches to the top of the main sail and pulls it up to the top of the mast. Relatively critical in the whole scheme of things. Without it, sailing is really tough.
It's certainly not uncommon, and I suppose most people who've spent much time on a sailboat have gone up the mast at some point for some reason or other. But don't be envious. It is not a rite of passage. More like the mark of a careless sailor, if I can be called that. At least I got to do it at the dock on a calm day. And I had two belayers just in case. Who knew the rigging makes for such good top roping?
It was kind of neat, in the "wow, I hope I never have to do that again" sort of way. We made a harness, which was surprisingly comfortable. And then fashioned something similar to a prusik loop for each of my feet and one for my harness. They're friction knots. So we tied them around the mast and as I "walked up" I would scoot them each up. The one connected to my harness was a just a fail safe. But the feet loops were the working knots. I would put my weight in one, slide the other up, and transfer my weight to the other. Surprisingly effective. And if it weren't for the spreaders, I wouldn't have had to retie the whole setup. I was able to sit on the spreaders while I re-tied, though, which made all the difference.
Despite my little mishap it was a wonderful day. 10-20 knots of wind all afternoon long. We had the boat healed over almost the entire time. I love seeing S2H with that goofy smile on his face. I did forget sunscreen though. Man, it seems like it happens at least once every year. I was about to put some on and the wind picked up.. ooh shiny!!
I knew as soon as we eased the boat in the slip that I was burned. Ow.So notes for next time.
1. Don't forget the sunscreen.
2. Whatever you do, don't let go of the halyard.
