Tidy Ropes

Triassic is spot on - why do you need to touch most of these ropes? And certainly not at the same time - hoist main then tidy up, then unfurl genoa and tidy up.

Or more specifically, to simplify:
2 x mainsheet traveller - not touched when setting sail. Indeed, you are not a racer so why not fix the traveller centrally and remove these ropes to simplify.
1 x mainsheet - yep that is needed
1 x main halyard - yep that is needed, but coiled or flaked once underway
4 x reefing lines - no need to touch when setting sail normally. Don’t make the mistake of pulling tight when dropping the sail, just tuck into stackpack sail cover. Any excess length kept coiled when not using.
1 x a rope that pulls down the main, don't know it's name. - Most boats don’t have this, but can be handy if sail doesn’t drop down easily.
1 x topping lift. Fit gas strut in rod kicker and this can be removed. Not needed.
1 x boom vang. Yup need to ease when hoisting, but should be only a small amount of rope
1 x genoa furler - only needed after mainsail is set and all mainsail ropes tidied
2 x genoa sheets - ditto
2 x genoa cars - generally can start with set for upwind sailing, with no excess rope needed. Coil excess temporarily when pulled forward for downwind.
1 x genoa halyard - only used once a season. Keep coiled and never uncoil.
Simples :)
 
We have at least the same number of lines in the cockpit as the OP. Most of them are showed away in bags, in front of the clutches under the sprayhood, or next to the companionway, next to the wheel for the mainsheet and traveller control lines.
A valuable tip I picked up from a friend who also is a climber: do not coil ropes before you put them in a bag, but just stuff them in at random, that way they are much less likely to snag.
 
I sailed with a instructor once who insisted that reefing lines were pulled through when dropping the main so there were no untidy loops hanging off the sail. It had lazyjacks and boom bag, but he insisted. This meant when hoisting all three reef lines had to be unfurled and it needed someone at the mast to pull them through. Single line reefing with vast amounts of added friction! That is the only reason I can think of to routinely uncoil reefing lines when hoisting the main. Have never pulled reefing lines through since.
 
I have recently had a change of approach to this matter. My boat is a well equipped 34 foot sloop with all the lines coming back to the cockpit. The previous owner had installed triple rope bags on each side of the cockpit and for years I dutifully used these for stowing topping lift, most halyards and six reefing lines. The latter take a lot of space when we are fully reefed.

I have now removed these bags and much increased the space in the cockpit. Genoa halyard, spinnaker halyard etc are of course tightly coiled and stowed but I deal with the three reefing lines on each side by simply lap coiling all three ropes as one and putting the bundle under the spray hood. If I need to take in or take out a reef it is a moment's work to uncoil the loose bundle and to then re-coil afterwards.

On the face of it this is much less "tidy" than the old arrangement but it is both quicker and more functional.

I shan't be going back to the old method...
 
Thx for the replies. Some great points. I would like to reply which once I get to PC I will do so. My phone isnt the best for typing!
 
crewman said:
I sailed with a instructor once who insisted that reefing lines were pulled through when dropping the main so there were no untidy loops hanging off the sail. It had lazyjacks and boom bag, but he insisted. This meant when hoisting all three reef lines had to be unfurled and it needed someone at the mast to pull them through. Single line reefing with vast amounts of added friction! That is the only reason I can think of to routinely uncoil reefing lines when hoisting the main. Have never pulled reefing lines through since.
Click to expand...

Yes one does find a few instructors who take a military style of rigid insistence on their pet topics - even if their methods are at best debatable, specific to certain boats / circumstances, or simply bad practice. But thinking through for ones own boat, crew and circumstances is much preferable to blind direction.
I certainly don’t have crew to spare to send on deck to pull out reefing lines when hoisting sail, not efficient or seamanlike to me.
 
TL; DR
Most of my sailing is round the cans club racing and tidying string is just part of the cockpit work. If you're not pulling it, you seem to be coiling it. Cruising mode, less changes and so less string action. Really not a big deal.
 
crewman said:
I sailed with a instructor once who insisted that reefing lines were pulled through when dropping the main so there were no untidy loops hanging off the sail. It had lazyjacks and boom bag, but he insisted. This meant when hoisting all three reef lines had to be unfurled and it needed someone at the mast to pull them through. Single line reefing with vast amounts of added friction! That is the only reason I can think of to routinely uncoil reefing lines when hoisting the main. Have never pulled reefing lines through since.
Click to expand...

In that case and with no respect he was a pillock.

dunedin said:
Yes one does find a few instructors who take a military style of rigid insistence on their pet topics - even if their methods are at best debatable, specific to certain boats / circumstances, or simply bad practice. But thinking through for ones own boat, crew and circumstances is much preferable to blind direction.
I certainly don’t have crew to spare to send on deck to pull out reefing lines when hoisting sail, not efficient or seamanlike to me.
Click to expand...
Agreed.
 
A very neat & simple tip Quandry showed me was hang a wee loop of 3mm cord over every halyard cleat etc, when you coil the tail up, just bring the cord loop through the coil, back up over the top front and hook over the top horn of the cleat. Works well.
 
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Kingfisher 5 said:
To hell with it … bung all the tails down the hatch! …. :encouragement:
Click to expand...

Do what we do on our dinghy sometimes. Chuck the halyard tail over the transom, best way to ensure the main drops easily as you come ashore...
Never a good idea if you're likely to motor astern though!
 
steve yates said:
A vet neat & simple tip Quandry showed me was hang a wee loop of 3mm cord over every halyard cleat etc, when you coil the tail up, just bring the cord loop through the coil, back up over the top front and hook over the top horn of the cleat. Works well.
Click to expand...
:encouragement:
Had those fitted for years, means you can easily coil & store more than 1 line on a cleat. Little bit of heat shrink on the knot makes if tidy.
 
Back at the office now and can type!

Thanks everyone for great tips, some of which I will check out on our boat to see if they will work for us.

I always coil ropes and always have done so I am keen to try the idea of stuffing the lines in to a bag. Coiled ropes do tangle on our boat pretty much all the time. That might be partly to do with the ageing ropes being slightly stiff. The idea of chucking the lines down the companionway doesn't work for us. What happens is that the lines end up getting themselves jammed between the stair steps and the bulkhead at each side of the stairs.

The advice to cut the lines back to make them as short as practical is very sensible, so I will check out when next on the boat. I already did that when replacing the genoa sheets and it did make a difference.

I reckon that using the advice of the posters on here and revisiting how everything is managed in the cockpit of our boat, I should be able to improve matters a good bit.

Cheers.
 
asteven221 said:
I always coil ropes and always have done so I am keen to try the idea of stuffing the lines in to a bag.
Click to expand...

Works great on my boat, bags made from some mackerel netting for the roller reefing line & mainsheet. Just pull it straight back out again when you need some. Another success was instead of having 2 lines on the mainsheet traveler have just one with a loop as the bit you pull to adjust. If it's the same design, multi block & cam cleat each side.
 
Seashoreman said:
Lots of halyard bags attached here and there? I have four, two hanging from cockpit lifelines/dodgers.
Don't have any lines longer than needed. Get rid of excess.
Tidy as you go and stuff into storage.
Click to expand...

I’m the ultimate inexperienced newbie.... what length mooring lines should I have on my 27’ sailing yacht?
Thanks in advance.
 
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