Help-I've got hockles in my sheets and need to get them out!

[joelm100]

Hi all, this is probably a mundane question but I'm not finding anything on the forums. My Hunter 380's main sheet gets twisted up between the block at the traveler and the terminus on the boom. Sometimes just a couple days of sailing will create a twisted mess necessitating releasing the sheet from the boom and untwisting; obviously this is a hassle if sailing.

I've never really experienced on other boats, certainly not to this degree. I'm pondering some sort of twist shackle but I'm afraid of an accidental gybe breaking the twist shackle and allowing the boom to crash into the shrouds.
Is there another/better solution?
If not, any advise on a specific twist shackle?
Anybody want to speculate on the force applied to a twist-shackle with a 16kt accidental gybe with a main sail of 430 ft sq.

 

[JRacer]

Is that bottom block on the traveler set so it is free to spin?

 

[thinwater]

That is a twist, not a hockle.

A shackle with a swivel will not solve the problem. It will probably make it worse. You do NOT want a free-spinning shackle on the traveller; better off locked. Swivels are for alignment problems, not solving twist.

a. You are putting twists in the line when you coil it. Very easy to do, and they accumulate. Google coiling, and switch to figure 8 coils.

b. Sometimes the arrangement of blocks and pulleys can add twists, most often because the line skids when loose and tracks when tight.

But it is probably the coiling. Obviously, you can remove the twist you have by unreeving, taking the twist out of the line, and re-reeving. Easy. Tip: Instead of taking the line out of the mast, cut the dumb splice off the end on the boom. That does NOT need a splice, it's just for pretty.
Stopping sheet twist

 

[jssailem]

@thinwater nailed the problem and the solution.

Here are a couple additional ways of looking at the solution.

COILING ROPE: Figure Eights, Please - Wave Train

Brief tutorial on the advantages of coiling rope in a figure-eight pattern

wavetrain.net

 

[colemj]

If the block on the traveller can swivel, then fix it or replace it with a fixed block. A swiveling block there would be the #1 cause of twist.

Next would be coiling, as covered above.

After that would be the use of a winch for the mainsheet putting twist into the line.

Mark

 

[joelm100]

Excellent! and thanks all. The block at the traveler does swivel. I'll take a look at it next time I'm down there and see if I can lock it, else get one that doesn't swivel. Pretty sure it's not my coiling, 'cause I don't coil.

 

[rgranger]

a. You are putting twists in the line when you coil it. Very easy to do, and they accumulate. Google coiling, and switch to figure 8 coils.

I flake my lines.... similar concept to @thinwater 's figure-8

 

[dLj]

How new is the line? I've found new line often comes with a fair amount of twist in it. I will take new lines and lay them out straight and make sure there is not twist in the line. It helps to pull quite hard from one end that has a very easy to spin connection to the line so any twist will allow the line to spin. I've also done this by hand but that's a lot more work. If I have older lines that do this I'll also do the same thing. But I find it's more common in newer lines.

dj

 

[JRacer]

Another way to get out the twist. Throw the whole thing off the stern while sailing (not motoring) and let the tail drag behind the boat for a while. Then retrieve and properly coil.