There is a special place in hell for SOB's that do not secure their halyards

[Dogscout]

Is it just that they walk away and dont think about it or is it something else? People secure their outboards, they close and secure their hatches. Right. Do they just not realize that while they are off the boat and away from the marina, they are causing me to loose sleep and go a bit crazy from the DAM HALYARD BANGING AGAINST THE MAST!!!

So what are my options here? I could go secure it myself and I could just cut the dam thing down. I'm pretty sure that just walking onto someone's private property and messing with their rigging is going to be frowned upon. On other occasions I have asked the marinero's to secure them, well they work here dont they? But today is Sunday and the few staff are hiding out playing cards over at the fuel dock.

I think that I am going to have to classify this as even worse that the fool and his all night generator.

SOB!

[Jim Cate]

You likely will find a fellow sufferer in Sailorboy1, but most of us who live aboard just learn to ignore those sounds, along with wind whistles in the rigging, sea lions barking, gulls screaming and other nautical noises.

Life aboard is too short and too good to get upset about such things.

Very loud rock music or worse, rap, at odarkthirty is a different matter... but that ain't natural or nautical and IMO, less tolerable.

YMMV, but it will not be to your advantage!

Jim

[apirate]

Fully agree. Typically done by people who put the boat up and leave. They never hear it happening so out of sight out of mind.

[sailorboy1]

I HATE those lazy SOBs

In the end odds are that only someone annoyed enough will go “fix” it. You should look at it as “fixing a problem for them”. Don't leave a note, or talk to them about it before or after as all that does is embarrass them and make them crazy and angry. When they get to the boat next time they will be able to tell a nice boater came over and did them a favor by “fixing” their line.

If they still do it agan just go over and “fix it better” as they didnt understand how to do it the first ime. Some are slow learners and you have to give them time

[gonesail]

I have gone on other boats to fix banging lines and halyards. once the offending line was knotted so bad there was nothing I could do. The owners usually visit those boats once or twice a year .. probably to undo whatever was done to fix the banging.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I HATE those lazy SOBs

So, how do you really feel about this subject.....? lol

[tkeithlu]

I second Jim Cate's advice that the ultimate answer is psychological on your part. It's similar to avoiding road rage, and involves acceptance that there are a bunch of idiots or maybe just uninformed people out there. Some own boats and some drive cars. Your anger unfortunately deprives you of enjoying a moment in your life without hurting them one bit.

If you do choose to minimally invade another boat, I recommend that you do it in plain view and just step aboard near the mast. Don't leave the impression that you are there to steal gear. Then either stretch a bungee (wiped in sun screen first) from the halyard to a shroud, or do the same with a bit of nylon line. Step off. End of story.

[sailorboy1]

Just to be clear as the topic applies to ME.

Yes the light clanging of lines from boats are normal part of life on the water. But ones that are going BANG so much that they become overriding to the normal sounds aren't.

[moctrams]

Bitch, bitch, bitch.
Go buy a RV and listen to their crap. Real sailors can sleep through a war. I know because of three tours in Iraq.

[Lake-Effect]

Get a spool of cheap twine, or cheap bungee cords, to tie off the offending halyards. For repeat offenders, granny knots.

[grantmc]

Let me give a picture from the other perspective. When I bought my first keeler I was a very happy chap. But I didn't know much, and I sure didn't have a clue about what I didn't know.

And I didn't live on the boat. I popped down whenever I could and went for a sail, came back, packed up and drove home. I had busy weekends that didn't permit much sailing. But I had a couple of free evenings and so would use those evenings and go sailing straight after work. As a result I quickly came to enjoy night sailing.

But to repeat I knew nothing.

Virtually every time I 'left' the boat I would find I'd forgotten something. Such things as mast lights still on, battery switch on, or more than once, keys inside boat as I fasten the padlock.

But I had no idea that halyards bang against the mast. How would I? I never stayed on the boat. Sure I'd graduated from a trailer sailer to a keeler, but I always stepped her mast to tow her home.

One day some chap that lived at the marina said hi as I arrived, and very politely explained about halyards. I was so embarrassed, and felt a little silly. I'd never given it a moments thought. Turns out he and one or two other liveaboards had been tying up my halyards for weeks, and I'd never noticed.

Just to finish the story I wrote out two lists for myself, stuff to start and stuff to shut down. It soon became automatic.

So my message is go and talk to the skipper, but in a nice way. Use a complement sandwiche. You know, offer a complement about something, engage with a smile, and perhaps point out another boat with a flapping halyard. Of course identifying the owner can be difficult. So a note is fine. Just a make it polite and sensible. Same with walking on to the boat and tying them off .

[Polar Opposite]

Originally Posted by moctrams

Bitch, bitch, bitch.
Go buy a RV and listen to their crap. Real sailors can sleep through a war. I know because of three tours in Iraq.

I salute you, Sir. This made me laugh. I only had one tour in the Sandbox, but 35 years on submarines taught me the same thing.

[MicHughV]

ha, slapping halyards is a walk in the park......my wife snores...

[dougweibel]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

ha, slapping halyards is a walk in the park......my wife snores...

We have a winner!

I am always careful with my halyards. Any avoidable noise on my boat drives me crazy. However as soon as my mind is sure that some noise is either on some other boat or one of those small boat noises that cannot be eliminated (and doesn't signal a problem) then it doesn't bother me a bit. I really don't understand how anyone can harbor a resentment of slapping halyards without driving themselves crazy. It seems at least half the marinas I visit have numerous noisy boats.

[moctrams]

Sailed to Smith Island on the Chesapeake Bay a few years ago. Dropped anchor, tied up the halyards and opened a beer. While I was trying up the halyards a skipper on one of those fancy hotel boats yelled over "don't let your halyards slap". I yelled back "you watch your boat, I'll watch mine". All the boaters were invited for wine and cheese that evening except me. There is no nice way to remind a skipper to tie off his halyards.