[FloridaBoy]

Hello All! Got a 35 Morgan a few months back and been fixing her up. Got tired of working on her and decided to go sailing for a while. So, I'm sailing. One problem I've encountered is this, the jib sheet is tied to the jib with a bowline, At least 5/8" braid. My boat has a slightly forward stay, separate from the stays on the chain plates. The bowline catches on these stays, almost always and requires jerking and snatching to get it off. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Kevin

 

[celenoglu]

Keep the loop of the bowline a lot larger.

 

[jsaronson]

Use a halyard knot.

 

[Minnewaska]

I find the amount of slack you allow in the released sheet plays a big part. If you keep too much tension, while tacking, you get hung up. Obviously, you don't want to just release it entirely, until the clew passes the mast, or she flogs and whips everything aboard. Getting in between is the trick for me. I don't release the working sheet, until the sail just begins to back wind. Therefore, there will be some effort and momentum to push her across too. Wait too long and you have excess tension again. Balance.

 

[lancelot9898]

Try a cow hitch, but you need one long line as opposed to two.

 

[jimkyle99]

What these guys said. I have a similar problem with my genoa hanging up on the shroud. Let the genoa back fill a bit before fully releasing what is now the windward sheet and let the knot blow past the shroud before pulling in the lee sheet. Don't pull the genoa across. Timing can get a bit tricky if you are sailing single handed but otherwise it works.

 

[Faster]

Putting an appropriate length of PVC or ABS pipe over the offending shroud/stay helps a lot with this sort of problem. I find the black pipe less visually distracting

 

[RichH]

Bete-Fleming Shroud Rollers

There used to be a manufacture of quite small OD (~1 inch dia.) 'plastic' 2-piece shroud rollers that were interlocking and required no 'fasteners' to keep them in place. Installed they didnt cover the turnbuckle nor rigging screw, etc.

http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|118|2358491|2358503&id=74993

Without shroud rollers, etc., most times if you pull the jibsheet tighter before you release, there will be enough momentum and kinetic force to cause the damn knot to 'bump and jump' across a shroud.

 

[hellosailor]

All good solutions but quite often the last word on smooth tacks is simply "timing". Maybe faster, maybe slower, but almost always a change in speed does the trick.

 

[capta]

Time to learn to splice.
We've spliced eyes in our jib sheets (7/8") and attached the eyes to the clew with some 1/4" dyneema lashing.
We had exactly the same problem (imagine a bowline in 7/8" line) and have not had any since we switched to this method.

 

[JonEisberg]

In addition to what's already been said, I'd suggest your 5/8" line seems awfully heavy for that boat, you really shouldn't need more than about 7/16"... May not sound like much of a difference, but that change alone could make for a marked improvement, and you should also see an improvement in your sail shape in light air...

 

[FloridaBoy]

Yes, Jon, I was wondering about that line size, also. I am a novice sailor. That's what came with the boat. Seemed kinda big to me when I compare with other boats at the marina. All good ideas. I hear ya on the timing. I went down and lengthened the bowlines to about a foot or so. They were real tiny, 3 inches maybe. I'll try that and then I think the halyard knot. The timing... I drag that jib across the boat. I'll try backing it a tad and then letting it go. Thanks for all the great ideas! Kevin

 

[Maine Sail]

Try a cow hitch, but you need one long line as opposed to two.

Bingo! A larks head or cows hitch works tremendously well... Alternatively let the sail do the work. Many owners try to yank or rip the sail across when the sail will do that all by itself if you let it....

 

[danvon]

+1 on the splicing. Mine caught on the shrouds every tack with a bowline Spliced eyes on the ends & connected to the sail with a Dyneema soft shackle. No more problems. I'd use white line for the shackle though. The red color from mine left a nice pink spot on my genoa.

 

[pdqaltair]

I have a jib where the clew itself likes to hang up. By attaching the sheets to a sling instead of the clew, the sail can float away from the stay. Not even a larks head solved the problem, but this did. Very simple.

Sail Delmarva: Snag Reduction--Or Tacking Without Tears

 

[H and E]

I use a cowhitch fastened to a bowline loop with a 8" leader to the clew. (Leader is small diameter dyneema line) Jib sheets need to be one continuous line. Works great for me and makes it easy to attach whisker pole. Also learned to let sail do the work except in really light air.

 

[rbrasi]

And if you are using bowlines, try to make one loop larger than the other so that when they cross your shrouds during tacks, it's two small knots in a row, rather than one big clump of stayset.

 

[justified]

+1 on letting the sail do the work, by letting it back wind a little before you release. The sail will come across nicely on its own and you will maintain speed in doing so. Also +1 on making one loop a little bigger/longer.
One thing to look at and it may get some use to is make sure that the tag end(tail) of your bowline is running inside the loop when finished. It sounds small, but makes a big difference.
Peter

 

[Arioso]

I'm for the PVC pipe on the shroud -as chafe is the enemy in life along with those anoying hang ups that tied bowline jibs sheets present. I don't like shackles though as they can hit you in the teeth or face.

 

[Multihullgirl]

Single braid is a good solution. You can make a Brummel splice that has two long tails and larks-head/luggage-tag the loop into your jib clew: