the catalina 30 site is full of a discussion of easing and tensioning the jib halyard of a roller furled sail. this is something i have never considered. what am i missing and how much of it?
jib halyard
- Thread starter mortyd
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Mortyd: I could not find the message you are referring to - where is it? Anyway, the jib halyard is one of the jib sail trim controls for draft depth and draft position. Personally, I would not mess with the jib halyard (or the main halyard), especially with a roller furling setup. The first time I tried the jib halyard adjustment, the halyard got away from me and the top of the sail thing slide off the tube and I had a devil of a time getting it back together. Instead, I would install a jib Cunningham (or a main Cunnigham). I used the smallest Garhauer soft boom vang, which is much easier to deal with and more precise than the jib halyard. If you agree with my method maybe you could submit it under your name to the C30 site.
in between, i got a harken owners' manual which says to leave the halyard taut. maybe we are looking at a different catlina 30 website, but the one i am on is recently full of this discussion.
Don, I have a 'floating' tack on my main that I use as my cunningham. On a run, I ease the cunningham and halyard to allow the sail to draft properly. If I use the cunningham only, the top 1/3 of the main will not ease properly. On my genoa, I simply ease the halyard and it does te job for the entire length of the luff. No need for an additional line to do a job that the halyard already accomplishes.
Alan: The problem I have with dealing with the jib or main halyard is a couple of things. First is the weight of the sail and second is both lines on my boat are not run back to the cockpit. All I'm looking for from an adjustment standpoint is a couple of inches but everytime I want to make an adjustment I have to uncoil at the mast and invariably I'd lose a foot of line. I'm so busy with controllong the halyard that I can't see what I'm doing to the sail. As I've mentioned before, sailors (and all humans) will do what is easy and not what is hard. That is why so many fairleads are rusted in place. I'm no expeception - the halyards were too much work to mess with but the sails looked crappy and that is why I came up with the cunnighams. They are just so much simplier for me personally to deal with.
Don, Got it, I understand. All our control lines are lead aft except the main outhaul and leech line (which, by the way, is lead forward to the mast, above the tack). Having the leech line forward allows for adjustment no matter the position of the boom.
Jib halyard tension
Jib halyard tension affects draft depth and position as Don said. With my roller furling jib, I leave it slack in light wind, to the point that the lower shackle just goes loose. I tighten it up in higher winds to the point that the exposed luff below the furling extrusion doesn't curve out. At the dock, I relieve all tension before furling. Leaving it tensioned all the time tends to stretch the luff out. Of course, the halyard on my boat, with Schaefer furling, is simple to adjust.
Jib halyard tension affects draft depth and position as Don said. With my roller furling jib, I leave it slack in light wind, to the point that the lower shackle just goes loose. I tighten it up in higher winds to the point that the exposed luff below the furling extrusion doesn't curve out. At the dock, I relieve all tension before furling. Leaving it tensioned all the time tends to stretch the luff out. Of course, the halyard on my boat, with Schaefer furling, is simple to adjust.
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