[Giulietta]

OK, here is a cool tip for newbies and others...off course my expereince, and nothing other, many may not agree, I don't mind.(or care)

One of the first things we learn once you start operating in the bow of boats is the knots that tie the genoa sheets to the sail..so far so good

Most people, just tie a bowline or any other similar knot, and many many tie the knot as near and short as possible..see bellow

well I don't do that, and so no one I know. I normally tie the knot as long as possible, (see blue arrow bellow, I will explain why...

but the loop can't be too long, as it may prevent the sheet to get in the genoa track car sheave. The knot should be at least 3 inches before it reaches the sheave.See red arrow above

WHY??

Well one of the main reasons is that in a storm, in a hurry or any other emergency, the longer the knot is from the sail, the further in it is inside the boat, so one does not have to expose and stretch outside the boat to reach the knot in an emergency, which is good in bad weather..one never knows..

When one needs to untie the knot, and the sail is flapping around, it's hard to hold on to it...by having a long loop it dampens the flapping stoping the knot from shacking with the sail

It also helps when setting the wisker pole on a downwind, as the loop facilitates the manouver, and other more stuff...

Hope this tip from uncle Alex has helped you

have fun

 

[Faster]

... and a longish knot tends to slide around shrouds and stays with less hangups than a short chunky one.....
right Unk?

 

[Giulietta]

Fast, yes,

Another advantage is on rolled genoas, the knots make it easier to reach the sheets, when and if needed.

Here Fred, a relatively short person (still), can reach them easily, as can be seen.

As can be seen bellow in this photo, both knots are inside the boat, even with the sail outside.

And I do that with the Spinnakers also.

But with the Spinnakers, I use a thin Dyneema extension line that reduces weight suspended on the sail, and allows me to remove the sheets easily and have both allways attached, but above all reduces friction on forward rotating gybes by less than half once the sheets pass the in front on the genoa tack.

hope this helps,

thanks

 

[smackdaddy]

Woah, woah, woah. I have a parrothead/larkshead/chucklehead/whatever "knot" in my Genny using a single sheet. Is that sheer lunacy? Am I begging for disaster? Will I sink?

Giu - the avatar. Sweet!! And you're complaining about mine? Yours is just freaky, man! Love it!

 

[jorgenl]

Thanks for the tip Uncle A,

On our Thursday night races I seem to be tasked with poling out the genny and it always takes me three attempts (not so coordinated )

We always do less well on the downwind legs...

We shall try the longer bowlines next season.

 

[justified]

Great ideas! can't wait till the white stuff disappears and I can try those out.

SPRING IS COMMING!!!!

Justified

 

[Faster]

Just one comment about long knots on Spinnakers.. I assume this is in reference to an A sail. While few symmetrical spins are tied on, if they are then long knots are problematic when acting as a guy vis-a-vis the pole. The tack/clew should be as close to the pole as possible for stability.

 

[xort]

Thanks Uncle Al

Uncle Al, the kiddies pal!

 

[TSOJOURNER]

Geez, Giu. Is winter getting to you, too? I tie my bowlines long, too. Finally, I got one right! Wish Michigan had Portugese(sp?) weather.

Mark

wish you well

 

[denby]

Thanks for the tip Unk. Will try it out this summer.

 

[blt2ski]

hmmmmmm......

Now I can see how that knot works with an RF system and a higher clew......what if you have hanked on no RF with a deck sweeper 155 or some such jib/genoa. One usually wants as short a knot as possible, so you can get the carr as close to the clew in light winds for sail shape. Farther back in heavy winds would not be an issue as you will usually want the carr back a bit.

Marty

 

[sailortjk1]

tie the knot as long as possible,
but the loop can't be too long, as it may prevent the sheet to get in the genoa track car sheave. The knot should be at least 3 inches before it reaches the sheave.

I think he covered that.

 

[blt2ski]

ok, how does that saying go, "open mouth pickup foot insert"

I saw that, then look at his actual pic with the RF high clew, and went WTF!

the "loop can;t be too long so it will not go into the car sheave" went in one ear and out the other, or is that in the eyes, and out the ears!?!?!?!

So the loop will need to vary based on the clew hieght etc. OK,

Thank you.............

as I go off to bury my head in the sand!

 

[Giulietta]

Just one comment about long knots on Spinnakers.. I assume this is in reference to an A sail. While few symmetrical spins are tied on, if they are then long knots are problematic when acting as a guy vis-a-vis the pole. The tack/clew should be as close to the pole as possible for stability.

Faster, that is 100% correct, only on assyms...

I did not mention it, because the photo I posted clearly shows the two guys tied to the extention, and thought it was straight forward.

Thanks

 

[painkiller]

ok, how does that saying go, "open mouth pickup foot insert"

I saw that, then look at his actual pic with the RF high clew, and went WTF!

the "loop can;t be too long so it will not go into the car sheave" went in one ear and out the other, or is that in the eyes, and out the ears!?!?!?!

So the loop will need to vary based on the clew hieght etc. OK,

Thank you.............

as I go off to bury my head in the sand!

This is why we ignore BLT. BLT, get back to the ignore threads where you belong!

 

[painkiller]

Hey, Giu. Thanks for this thread!

 

[soulfinger]

I'd also like to know: any disadvantage in using a single genoa sheet with a lark's head/cow hitch/whatever tied at the sail?

 

[Faster]

We ran a little 24' day racer for years with the RF jib's sheet as a single line, with the midpoint fed through the cringle and the two ends pulled through (whatever that's called! ).. worked great. That sort of setup tends to work best where the sheet is rarely removed/never from the sail.

This gets heavily loaded, of course, so the disadv. is its difficulty to remove in a hurry if that becomes necessary.

 

[scottyt]

i only have one long sheet for my jib, i dont change lines on it and i have the knowledge that most new sailors will know which to grab when i say "that" one. if all the starboard sheets are red you cant really say grab the red one so color means nothing. i would also worry about a long bowline shaking loose on the loose line, it might never happen but once in bad weather is enough.

 

[philsboat]

For years I have used a double length jib sheet.The center of the sheet is pushed through the clew and the two ends pulled through the bight then pulled tight.Doesn't catch on mast hardware when tacking and reduces the weight on the clew in light weather.I leave it on the sail when folding it .Requires re running the sheets for each sail change but it works for me.

Phil