Main halyard stbd, jib halyard port??"?

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Believe it was tradition in placement of the halyards. EVERY boat I owned or was on had the Main Halyard on the Stbd side and headsail halyards to port. After a 20 year hiatus from sailing noticed there no longer seemed to be that hard and fast convention. First noticed it on a multi hull. Maybe it's a training wheel boater thing flaunting convention. Confusing for us sailors who grew up with the Stbd Main Halyard location expected. Even a bit dangerous as the wierd halyard location hit home when the skipper needed me to reef the main and I tried to drop the jib instead in a sudden big increase in wind velocity.

Same exact experience here roverhi...

Well said!

[TheThunderbird]

Same as Skipmac.

But on 2nd reefing we all move to the other side :-)

right handed people move on on starboard as a natural propension

I have to think about going to port side, if any.

[TheOffice]

If the main halyard is on starboard you are probably on a starboard tack while reefing giving you right of way over boats not reefing. I'm told that's the origin.

[pressuredrop]

Didn't read the whole thread so this may have been said but it is 100% because of the way winches spin (clockwise) and external halyards.... Internal halyard make it less important but there is no other way to get a fair lead on the mast winch with external halyards...

[barnakiel]

Our main halyard is swap'able with our top-lift.

Thus our main halyard can be on either side.

I like it on the high side on long ocean runs.

I do not think there is any rule other than owner's wish.

Cheers,
b.

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

IIRC, the French had a penchant for putting the main halyard to port. No idea why.

Facing starboard

[deblen]

Originally Posted by Jman

There is a bit of reason, and also related to some older interiors. The prevailing or right of way boat is starboard, as everyone knows. If you are in a blow and it is possible it is better to be on starboard rather than port, then you want to do that. Presuming you don't have much sail left up then the main halyard can be tended on the windward side, which makes it easier, especially with mast mounted winches, which they all used to be (or if not mast mounted then the winches were on the deck right next to the mast). Some offshore races also favor starboard tack against prevailing winds.

Look at older and some newer boats, the nav station is almost always on the port side for the same reason. Easier to sit on the leeward side rather than the windward.

So I believe that is the reason, and I think if you take a poll it is better than 80% of boats that are setup in such a manner.



Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Thanks. Always wondered why a few local lobster boats are port side steered. The capt. or his father was from "days of sail" thinking. / Len

[deblen]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Yes halyards. Think I posted the question too late and night and lost connection between my brain and typing fingers.

Cheeze Skip!! Tuff audience. You been keel hauled twice for that already!!

[deblen]

Originally Posted by TomLewis

I'm half French, dang.

Cheez!! Talk about a rock & a hard place.
Are you Canadian also?? Len

[deblen]

Originally Posted by TheThunderbird

Same as Skipmac.

But on 2nd reefing we all move to the other side :-)

right handed people move on on starboard as a natural propension

I have to think about going to port side, if any.

Of course!!

[KJThomas]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

With the main halyard on the starboard it allows you to be on the "high" side when on the starboard tack, with the added bonus you have the right of way when you are away from the wheel for a few minutes. This is a singlehanders perspective.
Primarily it is how boats are historically rigged and a sailor aboard any boat will instinctively go to the starboard to find the main halyard. Any boat with the main halyard on the port side is just rigged incorrectly.

If that was the case then the jib halyard would be on the starboard side, as that is the sail you change most often.



Lets face it. Most US conventions are simply because they have to be different from the Poms. BTW square rigged barque has the for and afters "main" halyard port and the topsail stbd. staysails forward of the mast.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

With the main halyard on the starboard it allows you to be on the "high" side when on the starboard tack, with the added bonus you have the right of way when you are away from the wheel for a few minutes. This is a singlehanders perspective.
Primarily it is how boats are historically rigged and a sailor aboard any boat will instinctively go to the starboard to find the main halyard. Any boat with the main halyard on the port side is just rigged incorrectly.

Originally Posted by KJThomas

If that was the case then the jib halyard would be on the starboard side, as that is the sail you change most often.



Lets face it. Most US conventions are simply because they have to be different from the Poms. BTW square rigged barque has the for and afters "main" halyard port and the topsail stbd. staysails forward of the mast.

You are both wrong. It has to do with almost all winches loading clockwise.
Read here: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post1920451

[KJThomas]

Originally Posted by Adelie

You are both wrong. It has to do with almost all winches loading clockwise.
Read here: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post1920451

From before halyard winches, existed? Really.

[Adelie]

As you pointed out in the last paragraph of post #41, old timey boats did different things. My post discussed halyard winches which are ubiquitous on production boats going back to the 1950s, maybe even earlier.

With the advent of internally led halyards and/or halyards led back to the cockpit there is not a functional reason for the handedness but an expectation on where the main and jib halyards will be that I believe will persist as long as there continues to be a stock of boats with halyard winches on the mast.

[Djarraluda]

It is absolutely a standardisation that was developed for sail training. Imagine you were a complete novice! We used colours and locations a standard arrangements, not only across the fleet in a sailing school, but RYA published it as a standard for all their training schools. If it was a standard for square riggers I doubt it was universal as there simply wasn't that level of communication and cooperation.