I think that I must have been unclear. I always attach all hanks on the foresail to the forestay. What I meant was that the down-haul line is only inside of every 3rd to 4th hank and outside of the rest. It could have been a function of the size of my hanks relative to the diameter of the forestay but if I hooked the line into all of the hanks, it would bind up and make it more difficult to pull down.@Hayden Watson : You have mentioned this detail in another thread in the past. That has not been my experience with down hauls and I wonder if the friction issue is (was) specific to your rig. The advantage to alternating the down haul through the hanks is that it will very nicely flake your sail when you bring it down so long as you leave one of the sheets taught. this will stow your sail along a gunwale while you deal with the stronger weather and the hanking of a storm jib.
If my hanks had been a larger size, this probably would not be needed.