This evening I took all 3 kids out on the boat to give their pregnant mother a break. All was well with sandwiches and pop. Wind was gorgeous S-SW 5-8 knots. Had the full main up and rolled as much genoa out as I could with too big a sail on the furler.
This photo was taken with near flat calm, once we round out of the bay, there is high mountains on both sides of the lake which funnel that 5-8 knots into puffs of 15 to 20 in places. My 2 younger boys freaked out and began my favorite "siren cry." Well it had to come sometime.
The owner of the boat has many fancy, but old, gear on the rig to "ease singlehanding" that I admit I really hate. I wanted to get some opinions on that fancy schmancy stuff. My opinions are below, but I wanted to see if there was concensus.
First, I love the bimini, but the dodger really bungs up managing lines and single
handing. when I stand on the cabin house top to manage sail I am constantly in fear of stepping on it and tearing it. I hate the loss of visual clearance. The tiller is not long enough to stand on seats and see over dodger, and Im not tall enough to see over it from the cockpit.
Lines run back to cockpit: I get this from a perceptual safety standpoint, but in practical application they cause issues such as hockles and jamming when I douse sail. There is so much friction in the system I hate it with frequent up/down to remove jammed lines and hockles. With Lazy jacks the 2 make my likelihood of falling in the drink worse. I much prefer the lines to the mast with a pin rail with clear decks.
Lazy Jacks: I took them off tonight. Damn things are so frustrating with full batten main, they make me go up and down from the cockpit ten times in a blow, they really don't contain the sail, the dodger and bimini do a better job anyway. It requires me to be dead into the wind to manage the raising and lowering the sail, which in our area means I have to motor a lot to find a clear spot to do that with boat traffic.
Reefing gear: this is not a complaint. Finally got double line for single reefpoint in place. I like single point, but boat is not set up for it, double line works great.
Roller furling: I will admit when my son started the siren cry, it was nice to roll the sail in without going on deck. But I hate the damn thing. It is the reason I have never had it on any boat I have ever owned. The primary issue is that the sail is a 170 on a Harken mod 3 furler, the sail is WAY too big and that causes the drum to jam with line when there is still 5-6 wraps of sail on it. If it worked properly with a solid set up, I might grow to like it, but if it was my boat, I would have a hank on jib with downhaul set up. I guess I am old school.
These are all great problems to have after being down with engine and transmission failures all season. This is my 4th real sail on the boat, of course my persnickety bitching is starting right?
This photo was taken with near flat calm, once we round out of the bay, there is high mountains on both sides of the lake which funnel that 5-8 knots into puffs of 15 to 20 in places. My 2 younger boys freaked out and began my favorite "siren cry." Well it had to come sometime.
The owner of the boat has many fancy, but old, gear on the rig to "ease singlehanding" that I admit I really hate. I wanted to get some opinions on that fancy schmancy stuff. My opinions are below, but I wanted to see if there was concensus.
First, I love the bimini, but the dodger really bungs up managing lines and single
handing. when I stand on the cabin house top to manage sail I am constantly in fear of stepping on it and tearing it. I hate the loss of visual clearance. The tiller is not long enough to stand on seats and see over dodger, and Im not tall enough to see over it from the cockpit.
Lines run back to cockpit: I get this from a perceptual safety standpoint, but in practical application they cause issues such as hockles and jamming when I douse sail. There is so much friction in the system I hate it with frequent up/down to remove jammed lines and hockles. With Lazy jacks the 2 make my likelihood of falling in the drink worse. I much prefer the lines to the mast with a pin rail with clear decks.
Lazy Jacks: I took them off tonight. Damn things are so frustrating with full batten main, they make me go up and down from the cockpit ten times in a blow, they really don't contain the sail, the dodger and bimini do a better job anyway. It requires me to be dead into the wind to manage the raising and lowering the sail, which in our area means I have to motor a lot to find a clear spot to do that with boat traffic.
Reefing gear: this is not a complaint. Finally got double line for single reefpoint in place. I like single point, but boat is not set up for it, double line works great.
Roller furling: I will admit when my son started the siren cry, it was nice to roll the sail in without going on deck. But I hate the damn thing. It is the reason I have never had it on any boat I have ever owned. The primary issue is that the sail is a 170 on a Harken mod 3 furler, the sail is WAY too big and that causes the drum to jam with line when there is still 5-6 wraps of sail on it. If it worked properly with a solid set up, I might grow to like it, but if it was my boat, I would have a hank on jib with downhaul set up. I guess I am old school.
These are all great problems to have after being down with engine and transmission failures all season. This is my 4th real sail on the boat, of course my persnickety bitching is starting right?