Main Sail Management

Photo by Simon L.

In previous posts, I noted that the main sail got slides and later a lazy jack bag, so the main raising/lowering was now a different beast. Had noticed that sometimes the main would go up with ease, and other times I was struggling. I think the culprit was the the length of the five batons.

After getting the sail slides sewn in the bolt rope, the sail loft did not shorten the batons after changing the Bainbridge luff baton boxes to fit the slides. The recommendation was just loosen the leach baton hold-in strap. That was clearly not working. Under wind, especially off the wind, the batons. were being pushed forward and jamming the sail slide. I cut off about two inches from each baton and filed the luff end smooth. Now when slipped into the baton pocket the leach end comfortably fits with the strap attached. Granted, the baton does not bow the sail as much as it did, but there is good curved shape.

When the bolt rope was in the mast slot, the batons could be tight and the bolt rope did not jam on the way up. When the main was rolled up on the boom, I used to get the sail up in about ten seconds. But getting the sail down might take five minutes by myself. That was clearly not acceptable. So the addition of slides, lazy jack bag, baton mods, etc., I can now get the sail down in about 15 to 20 seconds. But the main raising now takes a bit more time, maybe 30 to 60 seconds, to manually clear the leach end from the lazy lines as the main sail is hoisted. There might be the occasional snag, but I am now more confident on the main sail raising and lowering.

Also note that the sail slides are well lubricated with DuPont Dry Lubricant. I get this in the 4 oz liquid teflon squirt container and use it on most things that slide and/or rotate on the boat. Goes on wet and drys right away. Works well on main sail bolt rope, and much less expensive than mclube or other spray dry lubes.

I also added a cheek block to the boom to better route the line for first reef point clew. The other line route method was jamming. The cheek block is directly below the reef clew, so not much out-haul angle, which seems to work and hold reasonable shape at the first reef point. I am now comfortable that I can get the reef in about 30 seconds from heaving to.