Jib sheets across cockpit

[Jeff_H]

Sailormon and SD

I see your points. On pre 1970's era boats, the winches were often mounted on pedestals that were bolted into the coaming giving them great longitudinal strength but not much transverse strength. How could I forget. That said, I am still not sure that the transverse load is all that much greater than tailing from abeam of the winch. Then again, as I think about this, when I started sailing, tailers were often asked to tail from aft of the winch so as to not spring the coaming.

Jeff

[GeorgeB]

Something you might want to consider is installing a pair of foot blocks (or a turning block on an eye strap) aft of your winches to give you a fairlead from that angle. That way, you can cross-sheet without using the other (leeward) winch as a turning block. This will give you two advantages, first, it will eliminate the extra friction and two, it will free up the lazy winch so you can prefeed the lazy sheet on it, setting up for your next tack. This is a time saver if your are doing a lot of tacks and is most helpful if you are forced into doing an emergency tack for any reason.