lazy jacks and aspect ratio

[bob26]

Opinion seems divided on lazy jacks - some seem to love 'em while others have tried them and think them more trouble than they are worth.

I wonder if the shape of the mainsail makes a difference - would tall thin sails with short booms be less likely to snag battens etc than sails on longer booms and shorter sails where the lazy jack is at more of an angle to the leech?

My mainsail is of the latter old-fashioned variety - short and fat - and I'm wondering what experience people have of lazy jacks with low aspect rigs?

I guess its easy enough to try them out using a bit of string but I'm hoping to make a sail cover this winter and am unsure whether to make a conventional one or a top-opening type with jacks.



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[newboater]

For what it`s worth,the lazy jacks on my etap 28i work very well, no snagging if you get right into wind and then let the main sheet go completely, d`ont do it slowly, the main sail is tall and narrow.On a rival 32 that I sail on the lazy jacks also work well using the same tequnique, the main sail on this boat is tall and wide.It may sound silly what I say about letting go completely and I am sure you already know this ,but a chap on my marina who had a jeaneau couldn`t get on with his lazy jacks until he did just this.

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[Robin]

The first point is that you can still have lazyjacks without having a zip up stackpack type cover if you wish, either by taking the lazyjack lines down the mast to cleats so they can be lowered after the sail is stowed with the lines along the boom or by cutting slots in the sailcover. We have a big fully battened mainsail with lazyjacks that stow along the boom and a normal sailcover, out of preference. We have had lazyjacks on a previous boat both with a normal short battened main and a fully battened one, both worked well but the FB sail drops in tidier flakes. The lazyjacks will hold the slab of a reefed sail without ties.

The key to using lazyjacks is to be head to wind for the hoist and the drop - not 10degs +/- either but head to wind. If you are not head to wind the risk of a snag increases and the dropped sail will be less tidy, but it will still work. The more wind there is the easier it is and the dropped sail almost self stows. If you have releasable lazyjacks you can always pull them out of the way for hoisting, though I have never found it necessary.

We had a stackpack zip up cover on our previous boat and it is certainly convenient, but the sail got dirty from dirty rain getting through the zips (despite zip flaps). Our sail now is much bigger (400sq ft) so the stackpack type would be rather big and ugly with the sail hoisted, so we have gone back to a conventional cover and perfected a technique for putting it on quickly and easily even singlehanded.

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Bob26,

Some points to ponder:

The most common mistake I see made when lowering the main is not releasing the mainsheet and traveller enough to let the boom follow the sail.

The next common error is the way the lines are set, I have made a few lazy jacks and always use rings so that adjustments at the 'Y' point are easy to make when things get out of shape, or are the wrong shape to start with.

The other error is placing the rear line too close to the end of the boom and the 'Y' set too far aft, you only need to control the bottom third of the sail, so aspect should not be a great problem.

A fast drop is a good drop, as has been said "let it go".

I hope this helps.

Avagoodchrissie.................



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[SouthPark]

I ripped a batten pocket this season when hoisting the main. The end of the batten snagged the lazyjacks. Crew didn't notice and cranked on with the electric winch when it got a bit difficult. Lessons learned - stow lazyjacks before hoisting and if it's difficult to hoist the sail check for obstructions very carefully before resorting to electric winch.

Southy

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[Robin]

Why do you need an electric halyard winch on a Moody 376? The problem with using a winch especially a powered one is that you don't feel when something is caught up as you obviously discovered! We have very free running roller batten cars and can hoist a bigger main than on a 376 by hand (just 2 turns around the winch, no handle) and just tension the luff with the winch proper. You can feel if anything does catch (sometimes a reef line hooks the boom end) and sort it out.

The key really is to be dead into the wind with the boom free to move when hoisting, and to look at the sail as it goes up rather than look down at the winch. I haven't felt the need to drop the lazyjacks away for hoisting but our system does allow it as that is how we stow them to put the cover on.

Some friends once had a spinnker halyard jam on the way up, so in went the handle and grind away hard. The 12mm halyard had pulled into a 3mm gap between the cheeks of the masthead block and the sheave - I didn't believe it either, but saw it later when they eventually cut it down, wrecked spinnaker, wrecked wind instrument masthead unit and highly damaged reputations!

Robin





<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>

 

[johnsomerhausen]

I agree wtih Robin. My lazyjacks can be "parked" along the boom and mast and I have an ordinary sail cover. I always leave the lazyjacks parked whilst hoisting the sail and never had a problem. I´ve also been able to lower the main with a quartering wind without problems. 17 000 miles with that system have convinced me of its benefits
john

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[kds]

John,
With that mileage behind you, you must have something more interesting to post in your details ?
Ken

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.canongrange.co.uk>Bed and Breakfast, cathedral Green Wells, Somerset Canon Grange</A>