Hi all

My sister is visiting us at the moment and i took her for a sail yesterday

It was a bit gusty, there was only the two of us on board, we were not in any hurry and she had never sailed before so i decided to use the small number 4 head sail that I had never used before and all went well on the way down the river with the wind behind us

When we turned around to beat back up i found that i could not sheet the head sail in as the clew was in front of the stays and because the tracks have been moved inboard on the deck from their original position the stays were in the way when sheeting in to beat

I untied the sheets from the head sail and ran them inside the stays to allowed me to sheet the sail in which is ok if I am only going hard to windward but if i needed to reach or run i would need to untie them again and run them outside the stays

Any thoughts on how i can get around this

Regards Don

MorningBird said..
I have sailed on many boats where the sheets were different sides of the shrouds with different sails. MB had this issue before the furler was fitted with a 130% Genoa instead of the old 150% No1.

Hi MorningBird

From what i can see if I go from a beat to a reach with this no 4 sail i will need to rerun the sheets from the inside to the outside of the shrouds

I wouldn't mind if it was with different sails but on the one sail it is a bit of a pain

Regards Don

I have sailed on many boats where the sheets were different sides of the shrouds with different sails.

In this case it is sheets on different sides of the shrouds for the same sail.

Two sheets on each side of the sail run to different blocks.
That is four sheets tied to the clew (I am not sure how.)
Seems like a pain, but was quite common in Slocum's day,
gary

Hi all

Thanks for the replies so far

2 sheets and 2 cars per side would work but i reckon going about would be a slow affair with 2 sheets to run through the blocks

Regards Don

garymalmgren said..
i reckon going about would be a slow affair

Slow is not bad (or dangerous) it is just... err...slow.

Nothing wrong with that.

BTW . Great photo, The sail couldn't have been too bad.

gary

Hi Gary

Once it was sheeted in it worked fine and it is probably my best sail as i don't think it has had much use over the years

I would normally had used the number 2 with just my wife was on board or possibly the number 1 if we were racing in theses conditions but i used the little one yesterday so i could tack without having to skirt it

With the photo I was hanging off the fore stay with my phone and took it while my sister was steering (she steered all afternoon and did pretty well holding a steady course considering she had never sailed before)

Regards Don

Yeh like Chris359 & Shaggy said. With a bit of practice it will become a very simple & predictable situation to manage. One reaching sheet, sorted! Or keep it Uber safe for new crew & ignore the poor sheeting angle off the breeze, you are sailing for enjoyment ??????

Hi all thanks for your thoughts

I will give a few of your ideas a go and see what works best

Regards Don

Donk107 said..
Hi all

Thanks for the replies so far

2 sheets and 2 cars per side would work but i reckon going about would be a slow affair with 2 sheets to run through the blocks

Regards Don

Why don't you try using a spinnaker sheet while reaching.

I misunderstood the situation. Yes, MB is the same. I needed to reroute the sheet when running dead downwind with the old sail. I can't remember if it is an issue with this one.

psychomub said..
It looks like you have a forward track. The way you have the sail sheeted in the photo looks wrong - the car is waaaay too far aft. Move the block/car onto the fwd track for the #4, then you won't need extra sheets.

That's how mine is set up also. forward track for #3, 4 and aft track for # 1, 2.
buy 2 new cars for the forward tracks.

psychomub said..
It looks like you have a forward track. The way you have the sail sheeted in the photo looks wrong - the car is waaaay too far aft. Move the block/car onto the fwd track for the #4, then you won't need extra sheets.

Hi Physomub

I am interested that you think the car is way too far rearward as looking at the photo it reckon the line of the sheet is only slightly below the 45 degree reinforcement on the clew and if I had the car all the way forward on the rear track it would have been correct

The clew of the no 4 is too far aft for the forward track when beating

With the no 4 on the front track I suspect the shrouds would be in the way when reaching and running

Regards Don