Quick Release Shackles for Assymetric?

K

Kinsale373

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 Jan 2017
Messages
235
Location
Kinsale Irl
Visit site
I purchased 2nd hand Asymetric and Snuffer for my Bene 373 and am putting together the rigging. Its quite a large sail at 12.5m luff and we often sail with two on board so I'm going to be careful with it! From studying other posts on the site may plan is :
Use the sail when crusing in winds less than 12 Kn.
I don't plan to jybe it , instead to snuff and re set it on the other reach.
Keep it as simple as possible to start with anyway.

I've been looking at how people rig these sails on U Tube and recommendations on the site.
I am planning to secure the tack of the sail via the Bow roller and take this tack line back to the cockpit on a winch so I can adjust tack tension.
I've also seen Quick release (under load) triggar shakles being recommended, so that in broach situation the tack can be released to de power the sail. Wichard and Telaska shackles seem to be recommended.

My questions are:
What length Tack line to use. Should it be long enough to come back to the cockpit winch and give a few feet of adjustment up and down on the tack or should it be be long enough so that the tack can be freed and allowed to fly back along the boat to de power the sail ?
How do I know what size Wichard or Tylaska to use, they seem to be rated by max load, How do I calculate this for my sail or is there a rule of thumb ?
Do I need a Quick release shackle if I have the Tack line coming back to a winch and can let the tack fly from the winch?

Interested to hear your thoughts.

Regards, Kinsale 373
 
You may find the tack line chafes against the side of the bow roller. I have a hole in mine with a small shackle through it. To this I clip a block with a snapshackle through which the line runs back to the cockpit and through a spare clutch.

I’d use a mid size quick release shackle on the tack - the type that have a release cord.
 
I think you will find that if the wind comes up on a reach and you need to get the sail off your best bet might be to get someone to stand in the cabin entrance and pull the sheet. Use a boat hook to get it to hand. Then if you release the halyard and the tack line it can all be hauled into the cabin. So you need a tack line long enough to permit this retrieval.
No one on the foredeck so no need for quick release shackles. However you referred to snuffer which might be another way to retrieve without being on the fore deck. I can't see where a quick release shackle could be useful . ol'will
 
With a 15m luff on ours and two of us on board I’ve still not had a real problem with snuffing it even when it suddenly gusted 20 knots. Unsnuffing it is harder but only when I’ve tangled lines. Tack line fairly tight makes snuffing much easier. Only bad mistake I made was making so much fuss before snuffing that I confused the crew and they went upwind and the asymmetric wrapped around stays and spreaders.
 
We chartered a Bene 323 in Greece this summer and had no problems handling the sail at all (2 handed).

Also, we certainly didn't use a snuffer or even consider dropping it between gybes. We tied the sheets to the clew so that there was very little knot to catch on the forestay (which was roller furled jib anyway). The boat had wichard QR fittings for the head and tack so we used these but certainly didn't need them for their QR properties.

I'd be happy to tie on all 3 corners of the assymetric, as long as the tack rope, sheet and halyard are long enough to dowse the sail into the companionway.
 
I had a look at the tack line arrangements on some boats in a French marina recently, and the majority of the ones where I could see a tack line had it rigged as a 2:1 tackle. There were snapshackles used, but probably to aid speedy rigging rather than allowing quick release in a broach. I think that it would be better to release the tack line and halyard from the cockpit to depower the sail, then get it in the lee of the mainsail to get it under control again
 
We have a quick release shackle on the tack. The block for the tack is tied to the anchor roller for strength.
We get the sail down by releasing the tack and the halyard (with some friction so it doesn't just drop). Then we pull the sail into the cockpit under the boom. This way it should be in the wind shadow of the main and so depowered.
Releasing the tack shackle normally means we need someone on the foredeck but when short-handed we have attached a "bit of string" to the release cord of the shackle and then tied the other end to the pulpit. Then, from the cockpit, we can ease the tack line off a little which has the effect of opening the shackle.
 
I attach a swivel block to a short bowsprit, to get it clear of the pushpit and bi-colour. I have some soft shackles with low friction rings that i fit to the stanchions, i think these are better than blocks, as they are fitted/removed as needed. The tack line passes through the block, then through the low friction rings to a winch on the cockpit coaming. The tack and sheets can then be controlled from the cockpit.

A quick release shackle is often fitted at the tack to release the tack line when things go pear shaped. This has a thin line attached to it to release it without getting a slap up the side of the head from the clew. With the tack line in the cockpit i see no need for such a thing.
 
Last edited:
i have along tack line so the chute will come back to the cockpit with ample spare. On one occasion we had a sandbank to leeward so could not bear away. As we released the tack line the sheet also slipped from my grasp ( taking lots of skin with it!!). the whole lot then formed a massive sail well to starboard. Releasing the halyard just made it worse. In the end we managed to untie the knot in the end of the tack line ( It was jammed hard against the clutch) & let the tack line fly. ( It is the only time in 50 years that I have regretted a stopper knot in a control line)
So the point is that when having a tack line, is to have it plenty long enough & take care not to let the sheet go. I sail SH most of the time so I need one to stay in the cockpit (The snuffer lives in the garage where it cannot kill me)
As for snap shackles; I do not have one on the head because if it did accidentally release I would loose the halyard.
Same goes for the clew, if you do not want to go onto the foredeck to get the sail down because it has come unclipped
Often one has a short release line to pull the piston & this can snag & release prematurely, ( ie sometimes on the hoist from the bag) so take care if using one
 
Daydream believer said:
In the end we managed to untie the knot in the end of the tack line ( It was jammed hard against the clutch) & let the tack line fly. ( It is the only time in 50 years that I have regretted a stopper knot in a control line)
Click to expand...
That's why I usually do my figure of eight knots about 6 to 10 inches from the end of the line. Just enough to pull back from the clutch / turning block etc.
 
PaulRainbow said:
A quick release shackle is often fitted at the clew to release the tack line when things go pear shaped. This has a thin line attached to it to release it without getting a slap up the side of the head from the clew. With the tack line in the cockpit i see no need for such a thing.
Click to expand...
I think a revision of "Sail parts 101" is needed. To which corner do you attach the sheet if the tack line is on the clew?
 
My arrangement is pretty much same as most other posts.

1. Snuffer in garage where it belongs
2. Tack line led back to cockpit clutches and winch. Turned through a block fitted to bow roller, no bowsprit. It has a quick release shackle but I’ve never used it.
3. Sheets tied to clew using bowlines.
4. Fly it through the gybe
5. Drop it by bearing away, spilling halyard and pulling-in the sheet and later the tack line.
 
davidjackson said:
My arrangement is pretty much same as most other posts.

1. Snuffer in garage where it belongs
2. Tack line led back to cockpit clutches and winch. Turned through a block fitted to bow roller, no bowsprit. It has a quick release shackle but I’ve never used it.
3. Sheets tied to clew using bowlines.
4. Fly it through the gybe
5. Drop it by bearing away, spilling halyard and pulling-in the sheet and later the tack line.
Click to expand...

Without a short bowsprit there are some restrictions on how you can sail. If you sail a little closer to the wind than optimal, loads increase considerably, with an increasingly tight luff. At the bow roller end, the tack line or the sail luff may well be tight enough to snag/pull off any nav lamps withing reach. Not somewhere you are likely to be at the time. It's also not very easy to gybe with the tack line on a bow roller- there is not much clearance between a furled genoa and the kite trying to pass to the other side just in front of it. I haven't indulged in emergency release shackles. If you are in a fully (race oreinted) crewed boat you can sail in much more lively conditions. Otherwise once you have gusts hitting 12-15Kts - and a promise of more, get it down. Been there and done some of that...
 
pagoda said:
It's also not very easy to gybe with the tack line on a bow roller- there is not much clearance between a furled genoa and the kite trying to pass to the other side just in front of it.
Click to expand...

You can gybe the sail in front if you lead the sheets in front of the sail rather than just in front of the forestay/furled genoa. The lazy sheet then runs round the leeward side of the sail instead of in the gap. I have my sail on a furler but I don't think that makes any difference.
 
pagoda said:
Without a short bowsprit there are some restrictions on how you can sail. If you sail a little closer to the wind than optimal, loads increase considerably, with an increasingly tight luff. At the bow roller end, the tack line or the sail luff may well be tight enough to snag/pull off any nav lamps withing reach. Not somewhere you are likely to be at the time. It's also not very easy to gybe with the tack line on a bow roller- there is not much clearance between a furled genoa and the kite trying to pass to the other side just in front of it. I haven't indulged in emergency release shackles. If you are in a fully (race oreinted) crewed boat you can sail in much more lively conditions. Otherwise once you have gusts hitting 12-15Kts - and a promise of more, get it down. Been there and done some of that...
Click to expand...

Ease the tack line off as the chute fills. Mine needs to be 3ft plus off the deck
Pass the sheet outside the sail & do outside gybes.
I queried this some time ago & was directed to short tack battens into which the outer sheet hooks stopping it from dropping under the hull.
Alternatively, If inside gybing then the tack line would be well off the genoa as the sail luff is allowed to fly well outboard & to windward as the boat swings down wind.
It depends on the cut of the chute.If it is a proper cruising chute it will have a lot of curvature to the luff to allow the sail to carry down wind better, hence my comments are more applicable than to a straight luff sail.
 
Agreed, outside gybes are easier that way.
Current boat came with a Selden bowsprit, so everything is more forward than the previous boat. We have one asymmetric (A2) which is designed to be outside gybed, and a Code0 which is on a furler just above the bowsprit. Both are big beasts (16.8m luff) so we aim to stay safe.
 
Many thanks for all the ideas and recomendations.
I was very interested to see that no one is promoting or praising the very expensive Winchard type quick release shackles.

I had a look at my Bow roller today and confirmed that I will need to clip a block to the roller as suggested by a few of you.
I will definately take the advise on having a tack line long enough to come back to the cockpit.

Thanks again to everyone for sharing your ideas,

Regards, Kinsale 373
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Y
Quick Aries 1000 anchor windless noisy
Replies
0
Views
104
yotter
Y

Share this page

Top