Looking back, the halyard had been resting loosely near the wind instrument bracket for some time before this trip, something the skipper had noticed but not dealt with. What is the main lesson?

A. A loose line near the masthead is never worth worrying about until it actually causes a problem

B. Once a line is rigged, it should never be checked again for the life of the boat

C. Noticing a loose line resting near masthead fittings and dealing with it at the next opportunity — rather than leaving it "for now" — prevents this kind of fouling from happening in the first place; small, easily-fixed issues at the masthead are best sorted before they cause a jam underway

D. This kind of fouling is always completely random and unrelated to anything noticed beforehand

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