On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:33:08 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

Send your grandson up the mast in a bosun's chair. Worked for me.

And lots of others. That's for when the halyard is totally missing
however.

Use some nylon fish line tied to 5 or 6 hex nuts or a lead sinker, and
have someone on top fish it down the mast until it drops all the way
down. Use a crochet needle or straightened fish hook to fish it back
out at the bottom.