Clew Strings?

[R Kolb]

We put up our 150% Genoa for the first time last night. Like putting a bit of a turbo on the boat! Should have tried it sooner. Anyway, at the clew of the sail are two strings, one seeming to go along the foot and the other the leach. The last 12 inches of each string comes out by the clew and each goes through a mini "wedge cleet" afixed to the sail. It is a Catalina sail. What are those strings for? How do we use them? Thanks.

 

[tom]

tension

they are for tensioning the foot and leech of the genoa. if you leave them loose you will find that when you are close hauled the leech of the genoa will flutter just pull the leech line to tension the leech until the fluttering stops. same for the foot although I have seen more genoas with leech lines than with foot lines.Some main sails also have them. Just don't over tension - the lines are just to stop the flutter not to put a new shape in the leech or foot.