[patrickrea]

I was thinking of steps at the base, however there is a fair bit of junk already attached to the mast (three winches, 3-5 cleats, etc).

Just reach up with a boathook and grab the halyard, pull the slack down around the horn of a cleat and then take back the slack on your winch. That will actually force the headboard downwards and stop the flogging.

And you probably need a longer halyard if you say yours is a little short.

Taller crew only sometimes helps. They start to whine when you force them to dig into small lockers for bits and pieces!