What color is your sheet?
- Thread starter dcalif
- Start date
There really is no standard. Just pick what you like. But some guidelines.
Pick green and red tracers for sheets; starboard and port. It helps crew keep them straight.
Pick solid colored lines only where they can be put away daily. Any length of colored line exposed continually to the sun will fade.
Pick green and red tracers for sheets; starboard and port. It helps crew keep them straight.
Pick solid colored lines only where they can be put away daily. Any length of colored line exposed continually to the sun will fade.
Now you've gone and done it. Now all my solid halyards that haven't faded in years are gonna be white the next time at the boat. Thanks!
Yes but I'll never have them, thanks to you. They're gonna be solid white! Yikes!!Didn't you always want a pink main halyard and a baby blue jib halyard??
I've always felt that color coding lines is childish. When I see boats with "color coded" lines like that I think of kid's coloring books. Red port and green starboard jib sheets - oh, golly, how could they not remember which side of the boat? Left and right? Windows or portlights? Toilets or heads? Bedrooms or berths? Living room or saloon? Kitchen or galley?
I've been sailing for 35 years with various crew. They all have the capacity to learn a few sailboat rigging terms, or else they couldn't even have been sailing with me 'cuz driving their car to get to the marina woulda been too complicated.
Unless you like your boat looking like a Christmas tree all year 'round, KISS.
There's probably a direct correlation between the people call the parts of their boats the same terms as their house as people who color code their lines.
I've been sailing for 35 years with various crew. They all have the capacity to learn a few sailboat rigging terms, or else they couldn't even have been sailing with me 'cuz driving their car to get to the marina woulda been too complicated.
Unless you like your boat looking like a Christmas tree all year 'round, KISS.
There's probably a direct correlation between the people call the parts of their boats the same terms as their house as people who color code their lines.
Oh, shoot, frog, you're right.
I forgot to close with:
Whatever, Your boat, your choice.
What's wrong with an editorial?
While looking at a beautiful boat this morning, I noticed a small sticker next to the backstay.
It read "Backstay".
And there were red and green stickers on either side of the companionway bulkhead. Guess what was written on them?
Whatever floats your boat.
It read "Backstay".
And there were red and green stickers on either side of the companionway bulkhead. Guess what was written on them?
Whatever floats your boat.
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I strongly agree with Stu on this idea of color coding, BUT... there are so many lines on my boat that i dont even know what they are for. So i bought the sticker/identifiers to put near them... and as soon as i find someone who DOES know what all the lines are for, i'll hire them the place the stickers for me.While looking at a beautiful boat this morning, I noticed a small sticker next to the backstay.
It read "Backstay".
And there were red and green stickers on either side of the companionway bulkhead. Guess what was written on them?
Whatever floats your boat.
There arent enough colors to help me, and if there was i would need a cheat sheet anyway to look at anyway... so whats the real point of colored lines other than for christmas decorations?...
Let's see, its Thursday because I have blue underware. For the retired many conventions help us track time. Same with lines and sheets. I like my guests involved and it makes it easier for them if I tell them to pull the red rope on the port side. Yes I have port and starboard labels from Harken.
Hi Stu,
I'm guessing you don't race. Or in particular don't race with a spinnaker?
Any seasoned bowman LOVES tracers in the sheets. In particular when there has been a clusterf@@@ at the bow and they have to re-tie sheets to clear it. Now no need to trace them back to the cockpit. Just look at the color. And if the spin sheets were not a totally different color from the guys, the entire crew would mutiny.
At the corners of the courses, with 8-9 people on board, maneuvers can get crazy. And we have more lines than you could images. Dual/lazy spin sheets&guys, in both light and regular versions. Uphauls, downhauls, inhauls, outhauls and tweekers. remote adjustable jib cars and backstays, 5 halyards. Vang, cunninghams, and traveler. Dual speed mainsheet. Jib sheets and reaching sheets. Many are double ended and have two lines each. Well over 2000 feet of cordage, not counting spares. We will do anything to help keep things sorted.
We color lines. We label things. We mark spots with tape, pencil or sharpes.
just remember that style points are given for the best looking lines/halyards. The boat with the most style points almost always wins.
I do race. No spinnaker.
But I have raced with spinnakers and a plethora of colored lines is simply NOT what those skippers used. There were, perhaps, two different colors for the guys & sheets on the spinnakers, but other than that the crew learned the boat. We had six or maybe seven on board for those races, and I've sailed on more than one different boat, too.
Horses for courses, or
Your boat, your choice.
Like I said before, there's no right or wrong and my editorial is my point of view, which is what these forums are all about. What I DID say was: "I've always felt that..." The OP did ask.
LOL. Fair enough!Like I said before, there's no right or wrong and my editorial is my point of view, which is what these forums are all about. What I DID say was: "I've always felt that..." The OP did ask.
But I can tell you... current practice on boats with lots of lines....
Color them.
My sheet is nasty brown and smelly too. Just ask my wife. She usually comes in and turns on the vent fan....
