Well that was interesting. . .

[sinnettc]

Forecast and reality were waaaay different tonight. Forecast was 10-12 knots from the north. Reality was about 14 from the west. It wasn't obvious that it was that windy so we went out with no reef in the main. We hit, and sustained 6.7 knots on the gps a couple of times, on a beam reach. Found somewhat of a lee behind a point and managed to reef the main. Even then we were sustaining over 6 knots for most of the evening. Wheee.

 

[MrSkeet]

Chris,
I can well imagine. When I can hear the wind's whistle in the rigging (fore stay I think), I reef before leaving the mooring. Makes all the difference. Friday my brother from FLA and I went out in mid teens wind w/o reefing. Taut main w/o any jib made for a fast but taxing ride. Same conditions on Monday but a reef allowed for some jib and a better balanced boat. I think I know why Popeye had such big biceps, all that tiller tugging and line handling is a work out.
Wooster whose strong 'til the finish cause he eats his spinach, toot toot

 

[sinnettc]

which way does your mainsheet uncleat? Lift to unlock or lower to unlock at the traveler? Mine's a spinlock PXR type cleat that you click DOWN to unlock. I went a bit wild with the sailcote this year and the @#$@@ thing tends to pop open due to the weight of the sheet, but only when it's blowing like stink!

 

[MrSkeet]

I'm pretty sure I tug down on mine to release; I have a clearer memory of pulling it up and in with the stock cam cleat locking the line. Last winter I bought and applied a harken (sp ?) rebuild kit to the cam cleat as one of the two jaws had a broken spring. This (stock set up) works for me. If I had to improve the main sheet handling, I'd try for an easier to use traveler, one that keeps me from having to release the leeward side to haul up the windward. FWIW, I have a spinlock pxr on the cabin top/jib furling line; makes for easy furling from the helm.
BTW, Wednesday was ideal, 6 to10 knots of wind, 5 and 6 knots of boat speed, blue-est sky with a few end of summer wispy clouds. Just wonderful.
Wooster

 

[jerrymlewis]

Wooster,

One of my favorite "upgrades" was a continuous traveller line - a loop that connects to both ends. With it, I can uncleat the low side while sitting on the high side. And easily adjust the high side as well.

 

[sinnettc]

Wooster,

One of my favorite "upgrades" was a continuous traveller line - a loop that connects to both ends. With it, I can uncleat the low side while sitting on the high side. And easily adjust the high side as well.

That's what I've got too.

 

[shnool]

Chris that question you ask was one that my brother and I argued some about... he argued that UP was better, I argued that down was better... INterestingly enough both my Capri 22, and Capri 25, had the lower block set adjustable, where the mainsheet was ON the car, so I could angle it WAY up, so that the mainsheet exited instead of horizontal, instead up 30 degrees from horizontal. It was a good compromise position between up to release, and down. It allowed me to release it from the rail or while sitting "inside."

By the way have any of you seen the cleats for the combing that the J/22 uses? Instead of a single vertically oriented cleat it's both vertical and horizontal.. making it possible to not just remotely uncleat the leeward rail, but also to cleat the leeward rail (you know before you tack?).

See here to see what I mean, that seems like a genius design to me

 

[shnool]

Chris that question you ask was one that my brother and I argued some about... he argued that UP was better, I argued that down was better... INterestingly enough both my Capri 22, and Capri 25, had the lower block set adjustable, where the mainsheet was ON the car, so I could angle it WAY up, so that the mainsheet exited instead of horizontal, instead up 30 degrees from horizontal. It was a good compromise position between up to release, and down. It allowed me to release it from the rail or while sitting "inside."
Here's the block:

By the way have any of you seen the cleats for the combing that the J/22 uses? Instead of a single vertically oriented cleat it's both vertical and horizontal.. making it possible to not just remotely uncleat the leeward rail, but also to cleat the leeward rail (you know before you tack?).

See here to see what I mean, that seems like a genius design to me

 

[HERSH]

Schnool;

I thought you sold your Capri 25 and were looking for a S-2 ?

Hershey

 

[shnool]

Yeah... boy you ought to see how poorly these S2s have held up.

 

[sinnettc]

Shnool, my mainsheet block looks like the first one, only it has a spinlock pxr instead of a cam cleat. I suspect my sheet is oversized too, as Mike liked to do that.

The double cleat rig for the traveler is interesting. If mine ever needs replacement I could see setting it up that way.