Would you like to see forward around your foresail better? Do you hate the stains that you get on the tack of your foresail where it rubs over your supposedly "stainless" steel pulpit? A foresail pennant will help you out on both counts. It's a simple little thing to add to your rigging that will make you wonder why you didn't think of it before.
A foresail pennant is simply a short cable about two feet long that you attach between the tack of your foresail and the stem shackle where you normally attach the tack. When you hoist the foresail, it lets the foresail rise up off the deck a short distance and clear of the pulpit. From the cockpit, this lets you see under the foresail. The foresail can also tack from side to side without polishing your pulpit in the process.
It doesn't work with all foresails, but the C22's standard hank on 110 jib takes a pennant easily with headroom to spare.
Your favorite sailmaker or rigger will gladly make you a pennant but they're not hard to make yourself. With a few dollars worth of stainless steel wire rope, thimbles, Nicropress sleeves and your West Marine or other marine supply business that will let you borrow their swaging bench, it only takes a few minutes.
There's nothing different that you need to do to raise, trim, or lower your foresail. You can leave the pennant attached to the sail when you take the sail off or leave the pennant attached to the stem fitting and use it with other sails.
For the full text of this post, more pictures, and construction tips, see the latest post on my blog.
A foresail pennant is simply a short cable about two feet long that you attach between the tack of your foresail and the stem shackle where you normally attach the tack. When you hoist the foresail, it lets the foresail rise up off the deck a short distance and clear of the pulpit. From the cockpit, this lets you see under the foresail. The foresail can also tack from side to side without polishing your pulpit in the process.
It doesn't work with all foresails, but the C22's standard hank on 110 jib takes a pennant easily with headroom to spare.
Your favorite sailmaker or rigger will gladly make you a pennant but they're not hard to make yourself. With a few dollars worth of stainless steel wire rope, thimbles, Nicropress sleeves and your West Marine or other marine supply business that will let you borrow their swaging bench, it only takes a few minutes.
There's nothing different that you need to do to raise, trim, or lower your foresail. You can leave the pennant attached to the sail when you take the sail off or leave the pennant attached to the stem fitting and use it with other sails.
For the full text of this post, more pictures, and construction tips, see the latest post on my blog.