New Halyard

[benz]

Maybe I should have started a new thread, but this ties in with Ian and Brion's posts above pretty nicely. In "Hand, Reef, and Steer," Tom Cunliffe says that main halyards were traditionally on the starboard side because when hove-to to shorten sail, a starboard tack gave the vessel certain right-of-way advantages. I don't know whether those ROW rules apply any more, where it's just "Boat to Starboard Stands On," since power boats are largely oblivious to wind considerations. Along those same lines, I'm always fascinated reading Arthur Ransome's "Peter Duck," where fog signals indicated what tack a boat was on, and everyone could deduce what others were doing by the sound of their horns. Pity that's all been ruined by powerboats.....