SAILING GLOSSARY

Halyard

A halyard is a line used to hoist a sail, flag, or certain equipment aboard a sailboat. It is generally attached to the upper part of whatever is being hoisted and runs through a pulley located higher up. Depending on the type of rig and sail, there may be a mainsail halyard, genoa halyard, jib halyard, or flag halyard. In short, without a halyard, you have to find another way to get things up… and that’s usually not any simpler.