sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

, a halyard or halliard is a line (

rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger ...

) that is used to hoist a ladder,

sail A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English units, English unit of length in both the British imperial units, imperial and US United States customary units, customary systems of measurement equalling 3 foot (unit), feet or 36 inches. Sinc ...

. The term "halyard" derives from the Middle English ''halier'' ("rope to haul with"), with the last syllable altered by association with the English unit of measure "yard". Halyards, like most other parts of the

running rigging Running rigging is the rigging of a sailing, sailing vessel that is used for raising, lowering, shaping and controlling the sails on a sailing vessel—as opposed to the standing rigging, which supports the Mast (sailing), mast and bowsprit. Runn ...

, were classically made of natural fibre like

manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...

Sail types

* A

square rig Square rig is a generic type of sail plan, sail and rigging arrangement in which a sailing ship, sailing vessel's primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spar (sailing), spars that are perpendicular (or wikt:square#Adjective, square) to t ...

sail with a halyard is mounted on a lifting

that is free to slide on a short section of the mast. The halyard is used to raise (hail or hal) the yard when setting the sail. * A

gaff rig Gaff rig is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the ''gaff''. Because of the size and sh ...

ged sail has two; a

throat halyard In sailing, the throat halyard (or throat for short) is a line that raises the end of a gaff nearer to the mast, as opposed to the peak halyard which raises the end further from the mast. Such rigging was normal in classic gaff-rigged schooner ...

to lift the end of the gaff nearer the mast, and a

peak halyard In sailing, the peak halyard (or peak for short) is a line that raises the end of a gaff, which is further from the mast, as opposed to the throat halyard that raises the end, which is nearer to the mast. Such rigging was normal in classic gaff-ri ...

to lift the outer end. * A more modern triangular (Bermuda or "Marconi") sail has only one halyard which is attached at its uppermost point (the ''head'').

Fastenings

Halyards can be attached a number of ways to the head of a triangular sail. The most common methods are as follows: # A

shackle A shackle (or shacklebolt), also known as a gyve, is a U-shaped piece of metal secured with a clevis pin or Bolt (fastener), bolt across the opening, or a hinged metal loop secured with a quick-release locking pin mechanism. The term also appl ...

through a headboard on the sail. # A

bowline The bowline () is an ancient and simple knot used to form a fixed loop at the end of a rope. It has the virtues of being both easy to tie and untie; most notably, it is easy to untie after being subjected to a load. The bowline is sometimes refe ...

through a hole in the head. # A

half hitch The half hitch is a simple List of hitch knots, hitch knot, where the Knot#Working end, working end of a line is brought over and under the Knot#Standing part, standing part. Insecure on its own, it is a valuable component of a wide variety of u ...

with a

figure-eight knot The figure-eight knot or figure-of-eight knot is a type of stopper knot. It is very important in sailing, rock climbing and caving as a method of stopping ropes from running out of retaining devices. Like the overhand knot, which will jam under ...

, preferred over a bowline because it allows the sail to get closer to the top of the mast. The other end of the halyard is usually attached to the mast at its foot by way of a cleat. It is convention in some places to fasten the main halyard (for the

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast (sailing), mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. T ...

) on the

starboard Port and starboard are Glossary of nautical terms (M-Z), nautical terms for watercraft and spacecraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the Bow (watercraft), bow (front). Vessels with bil ...

side of the mast and the

jib A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its forward corner (tack) is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main ty ...

halyard to the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

side. This allows quicker access to the lines in a time-critical situation.

Jumping/sweating the halyard

"Jumping the halyard" is a technique used to raise a large sail quickly by employing a few crew members to work simultaneously on the halyard. The person ''jumping'' stands next to the mast and manually grabs the halyard as high as they can (sometimes this necessitates jumping) and pulling it down as fast and far as possible. While this crew member reaches for the next heave, a second crew member 'tails' or takes up the slack created by the jumper, on a

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension (physics), tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a Bobb ...

. When the person jumping can no longer pull up the sail simply by hanging on the halyard, they must "sweat" the line. To "sweat" the halyard is to take as much slack out of it as possible. This may be done with a winch, or manually. To manually sweat a halyard, the sweater grasps the line and, in a fluid motion, hauls it laterally towards themself, then down toward the deck, letting the ''tailer'' take up the new slack.

References

External links

{{Sail Types Sailing rigs and rigging Sailboat components