The halyard is now free and the sail can be hoisted fully. Before the crew member is lowered back to the deck, what else should be checked?

A. Check the halyard, sheaves, and any fittings at the masthead for chafe or damage caused by the fouling, and check the wind instrument bracket itself is still secure, since a wrap under load can sometimes loosen fittings

B. Assume nothing at the masthead could have been damaged by the fouling

C. There is no need to check anything else now that the halyard is free

D. Only check the deck-level gear, since the masthead is now considered finished with

A. A jam like this is always caused by the sail being the wrong size for the boat

B. The halyard has almost certainly wrapped around something at the masthead — a spreader, the VHF aerial, the wind instrument, or twisted itself — and is now fouled, which is a common cause of a sudden jam partway up a hoist

C. This pattern means the wind has suddenly become too strong to hoist any sail at all

D. This always means the mast itself is about to fail structurally

A. Wrap the halyard around a winch and crank it tight regardless of the jam

B. Cut the halyard immediately without trying anything else first

C. Pull as hard as possible with extra crew to try to force the sail the rest of the way up

D. Stop pulling immediately and ease the tension off — continuing to haul or sheet in hard risks damaging the halyard, the masthead fitting, or pulling something loose up the mast that could then fall