Jib and Main Halyard Trouble

[siem]

My jib halyard jammed and broke at the swivel of the roller furler at the masthead. I hauled a helper up who ran the wire portion of the jib halyard back through the sheaves of the masthead but afterwards the genoa hoisted with great difficulty and I can''t get the main up at all. I do not know what the masthead layout looks like so I do not know how to explain to my helper exactly what to do. Does anyone know where I can obtain diagrams of what the masthead, sheaves etc look like or I need instructions as to how to run halyards to fix problem without lowering the mast.

Masthead designs vary with each boat. One thing that might help you direct you helper is to look at your masthead through a set of binoculars to see if there are any hints. What you have described sounds like your main halyard is wrapped around your jib halyard and perhaps is pinned against one of the compression blocks in the mast. Few things are more frustrating than trying to reeve a new halyard with out some form of messenger line.

Jeff