Moving lines to cockpit

[PetiteFleur]

My first boat was a Vivacity 20 - I also had thoughts like you about leading lines back to the cockpit but got sailing first and found lines at the mast was OK. I had the original 'round the boom' mainsail reefing which I always intended changing to slab reefing but after fitting tapered battens to the boom end found this was adequate except you lost the kicking strap. Regarding reefing I found you could sail just on the jib with a lashed tiller whilst reefing the main at the mast.

 

[ColinR]

Are you sure you need to? There are advantages to having the ropes cleated at the bottom of the mast. First the almighty clutter they make in the cockpit of a small boat, second, if you do everything from the cockpit the deck becomes a bit of a foreign land.
When you really need to work on deck, when it pipes up and you need to reef or sort something out up front you will be a lot less used to moving around on deck. And chances are your reefing system will need some attention that you just cant do from the cockpit when it gets bouncy. I thought about doing the same when I bought my present yacht which has all the halyards cleated on the mast but I'm glad I decided against.

 

[lustyd]

I plan to do a fair bit of solo sailing so having the lines aft makes this much easier to cope with. I'm quite neat when it comes to ropes in the cockpit so this won't really be a problem either.
I sailed between Scotland and the Isle of Man in a F8/F9 twice this year and was on deck both times so can safely say I'm comfortable up there but don't feel the need for further practice
For those concerned about the coachroof, I'm confident it's strong enough - take a look at minibluewatersailing.com to see another vivacity 20.
Cheers
Dave

Are you sure you need to? There are advantages to having the ropes cleated at the bottom of the mast. First the almighty clutter they make in the cockpit of a small boat, second, if you do everything from the cockpit the deck becomes a bit of a foreign land.
When you really need to work on deck, when it pipes up and you need to reef or sort something out up front you will be a lot less used to moving around on deck. And chances are your reefing system will need some attention that you just cant do from the cockpit when it gets bouncy. I thought about doing the same when I bought my present yacht which has all the halyards cleated on the mast but I'm glad I decided against.