The other use for the horn cleat is to use it to sweat up the sail, taking a turn around it while making like Robin Hood on the 450 or so mm between the block and the cleat.
Like friends, one can never have too many horn cleats…
Actually, Swiebertje raises an interesting point in that if the main needs to come down in a hurry, how do others organise their halyards so that dropping the sail does not involve untangling a rat’s nest of rope? I loosley coil the halyards and tuck them into separate bags clipped to the bulkhead, but I always seems to end up with a tangle.
Does anyone have a cunning plan?