Foot rope

[Myrna Antonich]

Two weeks ago we took delivery of our new 380, hull #214. She's a beaut and we love the way she handles, sails, stores things, sleeps, etc. etc.We have experienced something a little different and am wondering if anyone has experienced this. Twice, the bottom of the mail sail started coming out of the track. Of course this makes for a not very pretty nor efficient sail. The first time we untied the reefing lines and pulled the bottom all the way out and threaded it back in and retied the lines. Worked fine the rest of the day. Then last week we went out for a good day sail and it happened again. The salesman was able to come down when we docked and we had to remove the sail. He took it to the sail maker for a new, heavier foot rope (whatever that is). But he said that once it goes out like that it will keep on doing that.Anybody else experienced this one?Myrna from Washington

 

[Ric]

Footrope

Sounds unusual...if you have no joy with the suggested fatter footrope,the other option is to convert the foot of the sail to carry slides. Unless there's something wrong with the track on the boom, those slides WON'T come out !!

 

[Jonathan]

Footrope

A foot rope is a piece of rope material that is sewn into the foot of the sail. It is thicker than the sail material and topsides slide track on the boom that it fits into. The idea is that the thin sail material should be able to fit through the slide track but not the rope giving you that nice efficient sail shape that you desire. If the rope is too small, when the sail is wind loaded, both the sail material and the rope will separate from the boom (your current problem). A new larger rope will certainly be your solution. (Any good sailmaker can replace it for you). Replacing the whole footrope system with slides is also a good solution as the previous respondant noted. This would require that you add reinforced holes along the foot of your sail(s) at equal intervals and add slugs (small "T" shaped plastic blocks) which would slide in the track in place of the footrope. Personally, I prefer the asthetics of the bolt rope, but as always, one of the joys of sailing comes from the independence that it affords and ultimately you will decide for yourself. I hope that I have helped to answer your questions, and provided you with the necessary information to make an informed decision.Jonathan