Daydream believer
Well-known member
Extract from an article with pictures I wrote for PBO a few years ago. I do not think that they will object to me posting here after all this timeI had exactly this a few years ago with not enough line to get a good flick going. Persistence and very foul language won in the end. What's the trick?
Since I suggested it I know that a number of Hanse owners have fitted a line to stop the halyard catching.
Halyard Stopper
In the first picture one can see that the orange line is hooked around the steaming light on the front of the mast.-Picture 1
Now this is not a problem a one only has to give it a flick & it will disengage itself.
However, If one is about to hoist the mainsail in a rolling sea as one exits Ostend harbour & the bight of the mainsail halyard (the blue line in picture 1 ) goes between the 2 spreaders from aft & hooks around the light it can be a different matter. Worse still if the item is a radar dome or a passive radar reflector. No amount of flicking will release it because the spreaders get in the way. Looking upwards at the sky whilst holding the mast with one hand & flicking the halyard with the other can result in a dangerous dizzy spell for some. Not to mention some rather bad language as a friend of mine recently related.
My solution is to fit a line between the 2 shrouds fitted tightly just above my steaming light. This is convenient for me as it also stops my passive reflectors sliding down the shroud. (I have an Echomax on the stern)
To fit it meant a trip up the mast in a bosuns chair. This does not worry me personally, but -some might not like swinging away from the mast out to the spreader ends. To make this easier I whipped a loop in one end, so I could just loop it over the shroud – picture2. The other end was tied with a couple of rolling hitches & a light seizing added for luck. Now the halyard bight will hit the line but cannot go in front of the mast.-Picture3- Of course one could fit it whilst the mast was lowered. It is just a matter of forward planning!!.