It has been a rather wet and blustery week here in Northern California, so I decided I had better head down to the marina to check on Narnia. Upon arrival I noticed that one of the spinnaker halyards had wedged itself behind the port spreader light about 30′ up the mast.
For the life of me I cannot figure out how this happened. The halyard exits the top of the mast and is lead to the forward pulpit when stowed at the dock. The end of the line was still clipped to the pulpit. Well after 20 minutes of twirling, flipping, and otherwise shaking the halyard (my dock neighbors were amused by the show) I was finally able to jiggle it free from behind the light.
Unfortunately the line had suffered severe chafing during it’s ordeal and will need to be replaced.
I still don’t know how it ended up there. The lines were still tight. The working theory is that the halyard was making noise during this weeks wind storm and a helpful dock mate “loosened / adjusted” it to a position that would be quieter, but the line was still tight and my dock mates aren’t talking.
There are other mysteries on Narnia that I write about in future posts.
