Do you don't you stopper knots

[Fr J Hackett]

Deleted

 

[Stemar]

Yes, I quite like my lines to stay where they're supposed to be.

I can see the argument for not doing them on spinnakers and the like, but I don't do spinnakers. As a dinghy sailing friend used to say, spinnakers make you wet

 

[jlavery]

Not a yes/no answer for me.

Yes in light airs when it's a pain to lose the sheet.

No in heavy airs when we might need to let sheet run, or fully blow the guy on a drop.

We always make a conscious crew decision and make sure everyone knows what mode we're in - and mode may change as conditions change once spinnaker is up.

 

[geem]

We use stopper knots. With the knot installed you have the option to remove it you want. The knot stops accidental loss of the line.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

We use stopper knots. With the knot installed you have the option to remove it you want. The knot stops accidental loss of the line.

And when the knot runs hard up against a block or jammer?

 

[Chiara’s slave]

We have stopper knots. Relatively large asymetric flown from a bowsprit with a cockpit led tack line. I’d undo the stopper on that and the halyard if we chose to fly it in more than about 15kn of wind. We don’t normally bother as we can sail deep enough without it then. The sheet is endless. The knife is on my belt, and another in a holster on the bulkhead, beside the winch handles. Theres enough sheet to completely depower the kite anyway.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Mrs M calls the Spinnaker “The Bag of Fright”. * Ours current kite is 17 metres on the luff. We don’t put stopper knots in any of the spinnaker lines.

* Too many heavy wind days racing at Cowes.

 

[capnsensible]

I was trained by racing skippers that whist using a spinnaker to never ever put stopper knots in spinnaker sheets and guys. I've seen nothing in the decades since then that changes that rule.

 

[jwilson]

Yes on all main/jib sheets and halyards and reefing lines but never on spinnaker sheets and guys.

 

[LadyInBed]

And when the knot runs hard up against a block or jammer?

I don't fly a spinnaker but use stoppers on sheets and halyards.
What I learned fairly early on is NOT to put the stopper at the bitter end but to put it several feet up the line , so that

1. The halyard can be reached at deck level from where it disappears into the mast and take a couple of turns on a winch.
2. Jib sheets have enough line left so that they don't disappear out of the (center) cockpit.
3. Main sheet (on the coach roof) can be reached from behind the wheel as I sail solo.

 

[Kukri]

And when the knot runs hard up against a block or jammer?

Knife

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Knife

I wonder how long it would take to reach, open a knife and then cut through a knot whilst the boat is on its ear with water flooding the deck and worse. No not convinced best simply to let the sheets fly and deal with the mess if there is one.

 

[thinwater]

And what of dinghies and cats that use continuous sheets? Just sayin'.

Generally no stoppers, but in 40 years I've also never had to let a spin sheet clear go. Now that I think of it, of 4 boats, three where continuous spin sheets anyway.

Mainsheet, but there is a stopper on that, and the boom can only go so far. Jib sheet yes, but not to where there was any chance of it running out. In fact, my first three boats, including the cruising cat, had continuous jib sheets, so no end.

I've never cut a sheet or felt the temptation. Only fishing rope on the prop or rudder.

It's not that multihull sailors are not concerned about capsize. Practically paranoid. I'll push hard, but I never forget where the line is. I think part of it is that we generally don't run as deep, so sheets don't tun out as far, and we will switch from chute to reacher in heavy air because for us it is faster (a different hull speed relationship).

 

[Kukri]

I wonder how long it would take to reach, open a knife and then cut through a knot whilst the boat is on its ear with water flooding the deck and worse. No not convinced best simply to let the sheets fly and deal with the mess if there is one.

You are assuming that your stopperless sheets and guys will run free.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I am intrigued with the idea of a continuous spinnaker sheet or guy or do people mean furling line which is something quite different.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

You are assuming that your stopperless sheets and guys will run free.

Yes true but at least they have a chance one with a knot in it doesn't.

 

[geem]

And when the knot runs hard up against a block or jammer?

Knife

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Knife

See #12

 

[Kukri]

Yes true but at least they have a chance one with a knot in it doesn't.

We are not really disagreeing; I am not a spinnaker enthusiast at the best of times. When I first read the question I missed the specific reference to spinnaker sheets and guys; had I read the question properly I would have answered the other way - but I still think every sailing boat needs a sharp knife in the cockpit.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Mrs M calls the Spinnaker “The Bag of Fright”. * Ours current kite is 17 metres on the luff. We don’t put stopper knots in any of the spinnaker lines.

* Too many heavy wind days racing at Cowes.

Mrs C used to think the same when we first tried it, and TBH so did I. But familiarity, and the addition of a snuffer has tamed the beast. It’s all in the technique. With ours, bear off, kite collapses behind the main, blow the tack line and snuff it. You are now ready to beat. Lowering it to the tramp can wait.

Endless sheet is one piece of line from the clew, though one turning block, through the cockpit, though the other turning block, round the boat (outside the forestay clearly) and back to the clew. It’s slightly shorter than 2 sheets, and on our boat, less prone to tangling. It does need a knife to hand, but tbh, it isn’t under tension if the sheet is free to run.