How can I keep my Job/Genoa from beating up my boat?

[adell50]

Newbie sailor here..

27' Catalina

I am pretty green, so I like to raise my head sail with plenty of channel ahead of me. Inasmuch, I end up with a Jib/Genoa raised and beating the tar our of the mast and shrouds until I head out to sea. This last trip I broke on of my shroud wind vanes..grrrr

I figured I might motor just a little off the wind so its not flapping onto the mast so much, but wanted to ask.

Anyone have any advice in this regard?

Many thanks!

Aaron

[Siamese]

Don't put it up until you need it.

[puddinlegs]

^^^ what he said ^^^ right now you're only working on putting the sail maker's kids through school.

sounds like time to spring for a sailing lesson or a ride out with an experienced friend.

[SlowButSteady]

Ditto to what Siamese and puddinlegs said. Few things will trash a sail faster than letting it unnecessarily flog against something. And, as you have witnessed, such flogging doesn't do much good for the something against which it flogs either.

[deniseO30]

And in General most of us raise the Main first. It doesn't flog as much when motoring. But it can!

[padean]

Originally Posted by deniseO30

And in General most of us raise the Main first. It doesn't flog as much when motoring. But it can!

Agree. You can generally put the main up and motor/sail even nearly dead into the wind without it flogging to much. This would give you a headstart on the sailing when you get out of the channel. We usually do that because with the traveler locked in the center and the sheet in tight, you can motor and tack with little or no effort going out the channel if the wind is on your nose.

[AdamLein]

Aaron: on my C27, I hank on the jib, run the sheets back to the cockpit, clip on the halyard, and flake the sail down on deck while still at the dock. But I don't raise it until I'm ready (which is generally after I've also raised the main).

I used to have shock cords run through the stanchion bases with bronze clasps that I would use to tie the jib down to keep it from blowing around; you can set up something like this pretty easily. However it means you have to head up to the foredeck before hoisting, so I generally don't use it unless I expect the sail to get blown of the deck (usually that does not happen).

If your halyard runs back to the cockpit, then the best system is to run a "downhaul" to the head of the jib. This line goes through a turning block at the base of the forestay and back to the cockpit. Keep it and the jib sheets cleated off while motoring out, then loosen them all to hoist the jib. Later you can use the downhaul to help you douse from the cockpit.

[OtterGreen]

try raising the main first as previously states. i single hand 99.9 percent of the time. my routine on a 23 footer is:
1 leave the sail ties on until im ready
2 head dead into wind and take them off, raise the main and give slack to the topping lift
3 fall off to fill the sail
4 kill the outboard and drop the rudder and centerboard as needed
5 clean up the cockpit of lines
6 while on a reach, unfurl the jib and sail on

[adell50]

@otter - thanks a lot for the tips! I am yet to adjust the topping lift all while at sea, so this will be done today. Unfortunately, I don't have a furler..only hank of jibs/genoa. The head sail has really been my problem. It like to beat the tar out of my shrouds when raising it early :/ Either way though, I appreciate you for the advice.

[adell50]

@adam - I completely missed your post! We have the same boat, only yours is 1 year richer That sounds great. Do you attach the clew of the jib to both sides of the boat via stanchions with shock cords? My boat doesn't have any of the lines running to the cockpit, however I'd like to make that a reality after the season. Many thanks!