A Halyard is A Halyard...DUH!

The other day Andrew and I were having dinner at a local place and discussing the usual - The Boat.  The discussion revolved around things that were in need of repair or needed to be replaced before the start of the season.  Me and the organizational lists, I NEED them.  Andrew starts to tell me that eventually the halyard would need to be replaced.  Alarm bells go off in my head, "Halyard?"  

So, I prepare for the uphill climb of learning a new term and I pose the question: "What is a halyard?" His simple reply, "A halyard is a halyard."   The words just sort of echoed around in my head.  I am pretty sure that my eyes were bugging out and my mouth might have been agape. (Please note: Andrew swears that this is not what he said, that this is what I thought he said)  Does he really expect me to magically understand what he means?  "Why yes my dear, that makes perfect sense.  Of course a halyard is a halyard" I think about retorting. Instead I try asking again, "Can you explain it in landlubber terms?" And so begins the downward spiral faster and faster, picking up speed at an alarming rate.   Terms are flying off his tongue, "lines", "mainsail", "jib".  He even starts looking for paper and pencil to draw a diagram and my head is still making sense of the first five words he spoke.  I try to simplify it for me, to get the very basics.  I clarify, "So it's a rope that helps pull up the mainsail?"  If I thought the tempest would stop swirling I was SO wrong.  The maelstrom began instead.

"No it is not a rope." He replies.  Now I am really confused.   Andrew being the old-fashioned, use the right terms, love of all things boat type sailor has to use all the correct terminology.  The correct terminology on a boat is that it is not a "rope" it is a "line" because there are "no ropes on boats, only lines".  This makes my crazy and that makes me stubborn. And the winds swirls and the storm of misunderstanding continues...

How did this whole discussion end up - with me requesting the book "Sailing for Dummies"  I figure that I need to go down to the basic level.  I need to learn from the ground up and from someone that isn't trying to use all the correct terminology to describe what I already don't understand.  What did Andrew come home with the very next day - the book I asked for.  [Sometimes he is very smart.]  And for right now the storm has subsided.  I don't think that this is the last fight we will have over "sailor speak" and the perfectionist of being a sailor, but at least for now I have something to read and reference with my questions.  We will have to see how it turns out.

And I promise there will be more on what exactly a halyard is.


Halyard - (definition from Wikipedia)  In sailing, a halyard or halliard is a line (rope) that is used to hoist a sail, a flag or a yard. The term halyard comes from the phrase, 'to haul yards'.