SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Who uses a Larkshead on their jib sheets?

6K views 23 replies 22 participants last post by  arknoah 
#1 ·
Hi All,

I haven't yet really dug into the running rigging on the boat yet. But I have snagged those monster bowlin knots of the genoa sheets on the shrouds one too many times now and was looking for an alternative method of tieing the sheets to the jib. I saw a video from Capt John showing the Larkshead used on the jib. Anyone have any input and or experience with this?

Dave
 
#2 ·
I've done it plenty of times when one long sheet is used (instead of two short sheets tied with bowlines).

If your clew ring is inset a little bit then it will abrade and eventually damage the sail cloth at the clew of the sail. If the lower and aft section of the clew ring is just metal then you are golden.

The knots can take a lot of work to undo after a year or two of hard sailing. Not a big deal unless you want to move the sheets to a different sail.

My current preference is to use two sheets with an eyesplice at the end of each one and a soft shackle (not a metal one!) attaching the sheet to the sail. The eyesplice plus soft shackle slides around the shrouds cleanly. I have tapered sheets that don't weigh down the clew of the sail as much, and this allows them to be made of material (dyneema) that can be easily spliced, but can't hold knots.
 
#3 ·
Have used a larks head on a sail that never had the sheets removed.. but it's problematic if you need to change the sheets around for other sails.

Alex's system works well; we've gotten by with (longish) bowlines, they seem to hang up less if they are longer. I prefer not to store sails with sheets attached.
 
#4 ·
Hi.

I use the larks head on my boat. I rarely change sails so the single sheet is easy. I race on another boat and we change head sails all the time so on that boat we tie the sheets on w bowlines.

Barry
 
#6 ·
After a year the Larkshead is well and truly jammed, and the only way to get it off is to cut it.

Good practice is to make the two bowlines of different length, so that the knotty parts are staggered. Did you do this and they still caught on the shrouds?
 
#7 ·
At the sailing club where I sail, we remove the headsail after every sail. We use the lark;s head always on the headsail. One thing to note is that our sails are (or were? I think they put the new ones on yesterday) *old*. The genoas looked and felt like feed bags in the bits that didn't have holes in them. Chafing on the fabric along the clew has never been a problem.
 
#8 ·
I've used both soft shackles and (I confess not deliberately) Marks idea of staggered bowlines both with great success. We are very much a cruising boat and with all the rubbish we carry on deck I'm afraid getting lines tangled under kayaks, inflatables, fender boards and the like is more of a problem for us. I honestly cannot remember the last time we got a bowline caught up in the rigging.
 
#20 ·
This is what I'd do if I was starting over. I made these for my spinnaker pole topping lift and downhaul and like how they work.

For everyone else: http://l-36.com has the best documentation on this stuff that I've found. Look at the "better soft shackle", "halyard soft shackle" and also how he splices amsteel to double braid for halyards.

I'm using the amsteel to double braid splice on my jib sheets, but the splice doesn't like all of the twisting that you get from using the winch. This is why I'd just use a strippable line next time.
 
#11 ·
The larkshead has worked fine on our jib. Definitely tough to unknot at the end of the season, but a little coaxing and an assist from a pair of needle nose pliers always did the trick.
 
#14 ·
We find we minimize hanging up the bowlines on the rigging by insuring plenty of slack on the released sheet and not aggressively pulling the new working sheet until the clew gets to the mast. Wind will do the work for you, if you don't create opposing tension on the two sheets, which drags the clew across the standing rigging.
 
#15 ·
We use a larks head.

I have a fid on my sailing knife. A few minutes working the knot with the fid at the end of the season loosens the knot for storage. Really not a big deal...
 
#16 ·
I use a larkshead but I place a short piece of 1/8" line with stopper knots on each end under the looped section. That makes it easier to undo the knot after it tightens up. I rarely leave sheets on for more than a couple days at a time, though. I have hank-ons, and I'm either changing sails or sheets (light/heavy) frequently.
 
#18 ·
Once you get to the point of changing sheets for different wind conditions you might as well start using tapered sheets as well. Then a Larks Head doesn't work as well though, and switching to some form of soft shackle is best.

I like splicing projects, so I got a bit overboard here and have 3 sets of sheets (light, normal, heavy), the lightest two of which are tapered. They are tapered by splicing dyneema to double braid, though next time I'll probably just look into using a stripable line.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top