how do you jybe

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sailbadthesinner

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resolved to only sailing downwind this year at what point do you remove the preventer?
I tend to leave it on then shift accros once the whole thing is done so long as this does not chafe anything or cause a risk of decapitation.
How much swing do you allow?
Some people do the whole thing with sailed healude up then let out so boom is always under contol
some let it swing a few feet
am not sure which camp is best?
 
I treat preventers a bit like reefing: if I have to ask myself the question then the answer is now - for putting them on...
And once it's on a serious change of course is necessary before it comes off.
 
If I was sailing dead downwind with the preventer on, I would harden up to a broad reach, take the preventer off, sheet the main in tight, (or have someone manning it to sheet it in tight as we go through the wind), then gybe.

Once through the wind, I would set up on a broad reach, fit the preventer, then bear away to downwind again.

At no time would i allow any slack in the mainsheet such that the main could fly across as we go through the wind.
 
Has anyone has a preventer fixed when the wind has caught in front of the main ?. What happens ? I dont like preventers for this very reason.
 
Ease off the preventer, begin sheeting in the mainsheet, when the boom is over the quater, turn through the gybe as the boom comes across the centre line begin easing out he mainsheet, so that it doesn't snatch against the block, pay it out on the opposite gybe and then reattach your preventer.

Paying out the sheet is important, as if you don't the boat will try to slew round to windward because of the oversheeted main, not what you want if manouvering in close quaters!

Gybes are always nervewracking if theres lots of wind!
 
I have had a situation where a spinnaker pole being used to pole out a genoa snapped when the sail was taken aback in a sudden squall, at night. The part of the pole attached to the clew came inboard with some force and punched its jagged end through the spray hood, uncomfortably close to my head. The yacht was being steered by a windvane at the time.
 
We have double kicking straps!! One each side, everything done slowly and under complete control, pay one out as the other is winched in. Does means 2 extra winches on cockpit but no problem!
The boom is ALWAYS under total control and the big benefit in our case was by getting rid of the boom-vang it created a space where we could keep the dinghy..Mind you we don't do a lot of racing and tacking is a thoughtful procedure!

www.gerryantics.blogspot.com
 
[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone has a preventer fixed when the wind has caught in front of the main ?. What happens ? I dont like preventers for this very reason.

[/ QUOTE ] There was an incident some years ago on one of the commercial RTW ventures when a relatively inexperienced hand on the helm accidentally gybed in fairly heavy weather, I think during a headsail change. The preventer was led through a block on the foredeck and back to the cockpit; the block or its attachment point failed and the preventer caught a crew member on the foredeck by his foot which was, consequently, lost. Not much fun and a case in point for the anti-preventer argument.

Personally I think they have their place but like anything else you need to be alert to various possibilities.
 
I have sailed on a lightweight, big mainsail AWB where a gybe was synonymous with a broach, and now sail a Contessa 32 where a gybe is an undramatic gentle change of direction (providing the main is sheeted in). When I use a preventer it is in tension against the mainsheet, usually at the point where the sail is just not touching the spreader, and I remove it before starting the gybe and rerig it on the other side after.
 
I used to use the kicking strap as a preventer until I was on a boat with the same arrangement and a crash gybe le to the boom breaking aft of the kicking strap. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
I experimented with a preventer for lazy downwind sailing on my Foxcub. However they are a bit lively dead downwind with the stern doing a bit of a shimmy. Whilst attempting to pole out the headsail single-handed with the preventer set, the stern went across the wind and the boat rounded towards the wind which left me with the main backed against the preventer..........and I was at the mast.
Quite interesting, lots of straining and quivering noises and lots of heeling.
I dashed back to the helm on the lee side, mindful that if the preventer snapped the boom would whip across the boat, so I was sort of slithering along the coachroof.

It was interesting and convinced me that it's not much cop in a small boat in busy waters, with the possibility of having to change course at any moment as a result of other boats having (or gaining) stand-on status.

I took the preventer off the boat.
 
In a Farr 65 I was on there was an uncontrolled gybe, mainsheet hooked itself round one of the compass binnacles and fired the compass down the companionway like a cannonball - no injuries but pride..
 
[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone has a preventer fixed when the wind has caught in front of the main ?. What happens ? I dont like preventers for this very reason.

[/ QUOTE ]

Two conflicting reports on that one!

I used to teach day skipper, and as part of the preventer training used to get everyone sat down safely then intensionally gibe the main onto the preventer. If the preventer was tight enough it was almost totally uneventful. This was with the preventer rigged through the middle of the foredeck cleat and back to the halyard winches.

On my father's boat we upgraded this system to having 2 semi permanent preventers rigged through blocks on the foredeck.

A valuable lesson about this was learned during an accidental gybe in a 40 knot gust. The high tech ball-bearing block exploded, interestingly not with the shock load but after holding the main for a few seconds. These blocks have now been replaced with "old fashioned" blocks with a nice strong looking steel strap down the side.
With this setup and with the preventer nicely tensioned, I would have almost total confidence in running deep.
 
You could try the technique which I think I read in an old Uffa Fox book; don't haul in on the mainsheet but gybe very fast and continue turning through the gybe until you are past abeam to the wind and with luck the boom will have nothing to strike against and the mast might still be standing. On second thoughts - better not.
 
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