Slapping Halyards

[rebel heart]

Don't have your boat making noise keeping my family awake and I won't board it. Between some negligent owner possibly being pissed at me or my wife not sleeping all night, take a guess at which one I'm going with.

[chef2sail]

So Rebel Heart answer me this, if the owner was present, would you board his boat. If the owner told you to get a life when you complained about his halyards would you still board his boat. At what point do you value his right to his own property. Do you opinions superceed his? I suggest you gets pair of earplugs., and for your wife too.

Dave

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by wolfenzee

I agree about boarding a boat without permission. Even when I boarded a boat to extinguish a fire I felt uneasy. When people tell me to go on board thier boat when they are not there I am uncomfortable. Before boarding I reach from the dock to knack....a boat is a very personal space in an impersonal world.

Reminds me we had a neighbor call the fire dept then try to help extinguish a fire started by fireworks from another home. The fire dep't tried to get him to confess to it. He'd been minding his own when he saw the blaze across the canal.
Anyways in a marina I would secure the halyard. On the hook I might move if possible unless I was pretty sure no one would mind.

[sctpc]

Originally Posted by chef2sail

If the owner told you to get a life when you complained about his halyards would you still board his boat. At what point do you value his right to his own property. Do you opinions superceed his? I suggest you gets pair of earplugs., and for your wife too.

Dave

Pretty self centered to expect others to have to put up with your Noise

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by chef2sail

So Rebel Heart answer me this, if the owner was present, would you board his boat. If the owner told you to get a life when you complained about his halyards would you still board his boat. At what point do you value his right to his own property. Do you opinions superceed his? I suggest you gets pair of earplugs., and for your wife too.

Dave

Want me to get a pair for my two year old daughter as well?

If the guy was that much of a prick about it, I'd move in the anchorage. If I was at a marina, I'd talk to the management but I'm sure there'd be a line of others trying to do the same.

If the owner was present he'd fix the damn problem him/herself, because it's louder on their boat than anyone else's. Halyard slap is almost entirely the domain of folks who aren't onboard.

Seriously man, it's everyone's anchorage and unchecked halyards smacking around in a 50' aluminum tube is about as considerate as me doing loops around your boat in a dinghy banging pots and pans all night long. You have a right to your "property", but you also have a right to get infuriated if I decide to blast my 1990's gangster rap (which I love to listen to) out of my stereo aimed at your direction all night long.

Basic consideration and decency. Have it, and no one will need to take care of it for you.

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

Reminds me we had a neighbor call the fire dept then try to help extinguish a fire started by fireworks from another home. The fire dept tried to get him to confess to it. He'd been minding his own when he saw the blaze across the canal.
Anyways in a marina I would secure the halyard. On the hook I might move if possible unless I was pretty sure no one would mind.

The guy responsible for the fire I put out was at the top of the dock on his cell calling the fire dept...aside from the two extinguishers on the boat he walked past 3 to make his call. Took 10min for the FD to get there....old fiberglass boat w/gasoline engine...FD would have been to late.

[chef2sail]

Understand I agree with the noise of the slapping halyards being annoying...they are to me to. I think it is extremely inconsiderate. I certainly agree that on my boat if you were below with them clanging it would sound amplified an deafening and would drive me crazy. I just think there are more appropriate ways to handle it short of boarding someone's boat.

I wonder who would be liable if in the corse of you trespassing and fell and hurt yourself. Some people boats are their homes. .

Dave

[wolfenzee]

I have a solid wood mast so even if I didn't tie the halyards away it wouldn't be a bad as bad as with a metal mast. But all halyards go to the pin rail when not in use.

[Stu Jackson]

I'm surprised no one has posted this, yet. We, too, have cleats on the shrouds to tie off our halyards. Slapping anything when you're on board is like Chinese water torture and the folks with slapping anythings are usually never there. Once you spend a night on board your own boat, you learn the importance of silence.

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The Romantic Sound Of Clanging Halyards
Sunday, November 28, 2004
By Capt. Alan Hugenot

C:\Stu Boat\C34\The Romantic Sound Of Clanging Halyards.doc
Have you ever been woken up at night while sleeping in a marina because the neighboring sailboat’s halyards were banging against the mast in the wind?
If you have ever tried to sleep through this constant noise, which is like someone continuously knocking on your door, then you know the dilemma which this causes for any poor sailor trying to sleep nearby.
Of course, the skipper of the offending boat is not there to hear the incessant slap, slap, slap, and he probably wants to keep those halyards ready to hoist sail as soon as he comes aboard, totally unaware that by doing so he is creating a nerve-racking noise machine.
So what can you do?
You can’t sleep and you are conflicted about what action to take.
You know that if you go aboard his boat and swing the halyards outboard around the spreader before making them fast again that the incessant slap will stop. And, you wonder why the inconsiderate skipper did not do that before he stowed his boat.
Maybe you also know that he only comes down to the marina once a month or even less to check his boat. You know he is totally unaware that you have to listen to his halyards going slap, clang, slap, clang every night.
On the other hand if you go aboard his boat to fix the problem, it will actually be trespassing - not quite breaking and entering - but trespassing none the less.
When he comes back to the boat, he may even get angry at the “prankster” who tangled his halyards around the spreaders, thinking “who would do such a thing, just to confound him.” He, of course, never realizing the true reason unless you tell him.
Yet, from a different perspective you might only be a “good Samaritan.”
For instance, if the halyard were loose and about to carry away through the top of the mast, then that same skipper would want you to quickly go aboard his boat (even though he had not given you permission) and “properly” secure it.
That simple act of neighborly seamanship would save him the grief of having to go aloft to re-thread the halyard through the top of the mast.
So wouldn’t it be the same thing here?
His halyard is clearly wearing itself out beating against the mast, and if you will just “properly” stow it for him, then it will not wear out as quickly. Also your nerves won’t wear out as quickly either.
This is no small problem.
I have lived aboard for several years, in both Seattle, Wash. and San Francisco, and have also spent a night or two in nearly every marina from San Diego to Seward, Alaska. In every one there are these slapping halyards.
At first you might think that a polite word to the offending skipper would solve the problem.
But, a couple of times when I asked the owner of an offending boat if they could take a moment before going ashore to quiet their halyards by rigging them away from the masts, they became defensive.
They acted like I was being rude for butting into their business, criticizing their seamanship.
They arrogantly pointed out that they knew what they were doing, had studied proper halyard techniques, and had graduated from ASA or US Sailing. They were not going to quiet their halyards by rigging them outboard.
Besides who was I to tell them anything.
In one case the offending skipper said that “If they found their halyards any different than how they chose to leave them” then they would blame me for trespassing on their boat, and would report it to the marina manager.
After this encounter, I could not stop the noise from his boat, and wished I had never spoken to him about it.
I knew that if I had never brought it up, I could have quieted his halyards and he would not know who “fouled” his lines.
Instead, I changed marinas and learned the lesson that my safest bet was to quiet all offending halyards myself, and do so without telling the owner that I was the culprit.
This “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy allowed me to sleep, and several weeks later when the offending skipper turned up to sail his boat I was not there to hear his wrath about “Whoever fouled his halyards was going to catch hell.”
I guess it comes down to who is more inconsiderate: Me for trespassing on his boat, or him for leaving the noisy halyard slapping against the mast.
It is such a simple thing to just tie the halyards off on the shrouds, or swinging them around the spreaders. Maybe 60 seconds to quiet every halyard on the boat.
Another, idea is to use a shock cord to pull them over toward the shrouds and away from the mast, and there are dozens of other ways to stop the slap, slap, slap.
Of course no way am I advocating that you climb on someone’s boat and adjust their halyards. Trespassing is something I would never encourage you to do.
Several times in marina parking lots I have heard novice boaters saying “Wow, listen to the clanging of the all the sailboats in the wind. Isn’t it romantic.”
So maybe it is a matter of perspective, or rather ignorance of the harm that may be caused by what may be romantic to one person and pollution to another, depending upon perspective.
It baffles me to no end why sailing instructors don’t teach this simple courtesy to their students.
It seems that simple courtesy should always be part of every lesson for novice sailors.
We live pretty close together on the water, which means we need to cultivate proper manners and respect for our fellow boaters. Learning how to rig our boat so that it does not create undue noise pollution should be part of every sailing lesson.
Actually, in California the boating laws are beginning to take notice of noise pollution.
Beginning in the fall of 2004 agencies will begin to enforce a new law that makes it illegal to have a power boat that is too noisy.
Maybe this idea that noise pollution on the water is a crime can be stretched to include sailboats that are too noisy. Clang, slap, clang - but it’s so romantic. Yea, right.

[wolfenzee]

I have learned to judge wind speed made by other peoples halyards slapping against their masts.

It is not so much as noise pollution but rather lack of consideration for others...something that has become typical in the terrestrial world, is found to be very upsetting when it creeps into our world.

[micah719]

Record the halyard slap of the ones that rudely refuse the simple step of preventing it, call them in the wee hours and play it back to them.

3am

Brrrrring Brrrrrrrring!

Uuuuhh?...grrrrmph.....hello?

Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!

Huh?

Your halyard is fine sir, haven't laid a finger on it and neither has anyone else....even you. Good night. Ting! Ting! Ting! Click.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Now that's you and Bash both quoting lack of seamanship (knowledge) if you allow halyard slap? That is BS and its rude.

Rude because I'm being judgmental? Just for pointing out a sign of poor seamanship?

I readily admit that if we made a list of all the signs of poor seamanship, we'll all offend a few. For example, I leave winch handles in the winches after a tack. And I never flemish-flake my docklines (as befits the owner of a dock cat.) We have forum members who use plastic-dip on their lines rather than whipping them properly. We even had someone on the forum who once insisted that it was okay to tilt his outboard up at a dinghy dock.

Whether I'm on the hook or in my slip, I spend a great deal of my time aboard reading. (Read Michael Pollan's A Place of My Own this weekend. An interesting book if you're at all interested in postmodern architecture and/or writing.) When I read, I tend to listen to classical music. When I listen to classical music and someone's halyard is beating the wrong tempo, it denigrates the entire experience for me. This is why I purchase cheap bungies by the bag and distribute them liberally throughout the marina. It's a polite way to keep those who are musically insensitive from walking all over the adagio with their freaking halyards.

[sabray]

I have boarded others boats. Never for anything like a slapping halyard. Imminent danger ruled my thought out decision. I publicly made my intention known. In two cases I alerted the marina that I was prepared to take action if they did not. They did not and I secured the boats. Annapolis harbormaster was alerted during another event. I really think your going overboard getting on a boat because it's annoying.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

My halyards have been slapping on and off for 7 years.

Seven years on the same halyards? I thought you sailed more than that.

Seriously, my jib halyard is six years old, and I'm fretting about whether it will make it through the summer. Maybe we need a thread on expected lifetimes for running rigging among active, year-round sailors.

[bobconnie]

WOW ! I thought I was being nice and helping somebody out by giving them a good bungee to cure a problem they had !! Ive only done this on semi abandoned boats ! you ,now the kind dirty and sorta neglected !! anytime there were folks aboard I asked the if they could make things a little quieter by fixing thier halyards! a lot of folks did not know to take them to the rails, or that it's better to at least take them off the sail when the covers went on ! only once in my memory did anybody get to outraged cus I said something ! Of course Im a big guy! but not to menacing!! LOL Thats my 2 cents ! Im still gonna give out free bungees