Yeah, the notion that all your lines should be led back to the cockpit...I am very much not so sure.
It's nice to be able to drop the main from the cockpit and be close to the tiller...yes it is, and I do that a lot when coming into my marina, because I can sail in to about 75 yards from my berth. However, pretty much every other time I hoist or drop, I'm doing something at the base of the mast. Absolutely, for reefing, have to be at the mast. If I ever have a cruising boat, absolutely the halyard winches will be on pads, on the mast. If not there, then 2 feet away from the mast on the cabintop with a jammer in-line between the winch and the turning block.
The same goes for dropping the headsail. You stand in the middle of the boat, pop the jammer and then dash forward while the headsail tumbles down, half of it overboard. It makes no sense. Better would be to have a dedicated winch up there with a turning block at the base of the mast, situated so you can take the tail of the jib halyard forward and control it as you gather the headsail in as it comes down.
The one halyard that really makes sense to me to have terminate near the cockpit is the spinnaker.
Last edited by AlanH; 08-10-2017 at 03:45 PM.
1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"