Birth of a new mainsail

[Ward H]

First, fun thread to follow. I most likely won't be buying a laminate sail but fun to watch the process and they do look sharp.

Jackdaw, a quick question on this comment, if you'll excuse the drift.

Even when brand new, dacron stretches as breeze hits it, and the stretch translates into lost power.

With a fixed boom height, low stretch halyard, luff tight enough sweating the halyard will tighten no further, will too light of cloth or poor quality cloth, stretch enough in a 10kt breeze to loosen the lower luff enough to cause the sail to lose shape and require pulling the Cunningham down 2" to 3" to retighten the luff?

 

[smacklin]

Jackdaw, Admiring your new main photos.
Question on the reef point. I see it does not have any mid-point tie off grommets. When you reef , what do you do with the extra cloth ? How do you secure it ? Do you roll the sail ? / Steve

 

[Jackdaw]

Jackdaw, Admiring your new main photos.
Question on the reef point. I see it does not have any mid-point tie off grommets. When you reef , what do you do with the extra cloth ? How do you secure it ? Do you roll the sail ? / Steve

Good eye. There are no mid-sail eyes; I chose not to have them. Note that is primarily a racing sail, which we carry fully hoisted into about 20 knots of true wind. When we reef (which is about twice a year) the reefed part of the sail lays in a neat fold along side the boom

 

[Brian S]

Jackdaw, Admiring your new main photos.
Question on the reef point. I see it does not have any mid-point tie off grommets. When you reef , what do you do with the extra cloth ? How do you secure it ? Do you roll the sail ? / Steve

I saw the same on the the Volvo Ocean 65s during in port races (when I'd occasionally catch a video.) I think it's rare for a race boat to tie up the first reef.

 

[Jackdaw]

I saw the same on the the Volvo Ocean 65s during in port races (when I'd occasionally catch a video.) I think it's rare for a race boat to tie up the first reef.

Yes, tieing the mainsail to the boom through a mid-sail eye can be a disaster if you forget a tie when shaking out a reef. Easy to do while in the rush of racing, and/or at night. Plus it's just extra work; we often reef up and then off several times during a race.