solent clown
RIP
I will make sure she reads that. Getting her to listen to me is a task sometimes when she gets carried away!
Today's Solent disasters.
- Thread starter solent clown
- Start date
I will make sure she reads that. Getting her to listen to me is a task sometimes when she gets carried away!
Stemar
Well-Known Member
My top batten used to foul my lazyjacks with monotonous regularity. In the end, I added an extra vertical line to the LJs, positioned to keep the batten under control. I still have to be careful, but it's made things a lot easier
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We used to have plastic blocks at the junctions of our lazyjacks which used to cause the sail batten cars to catch on them. Since I swapped those for simple plastic thimbles spliced into 3-strand line the situation is much improved. Hang-ups are now rare.
solent clown
RIP
these lazyjacks appear to be just looped and joined, no blocks or rings
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Perhaps the key is making sure you're absolutely head to wind, then. (I know you said you didn't have room to do so). We only raise the main when we have enough sea room. I suppose that might be considered a drawback, but it doesn't really feel like one. Certainly there's a bit of a learning curve with lazyjacks. I certainly still consider them worth the effort. Ours are long enough that we can take them forward to the mast and out of the way, but we never do.
dolabriform
Well-Known Member
How do I remove coffee from my keyboard??????
( Not that I haven't been known to make some very stupid mistakes of course ! )
solent clown
RIP
How do I remove coffee from my keyboard??????
( Not that I haven't been known to make some very stupid mistakes of course ! )
it is refreshing to see other peoples accounts of their far from finest moments. Good to know we all make mistakes, and often good for a laugh too
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
I bought a new mainsail cover last year and took great pleasure in removing the lazyjacks. Flaking down the mainsail takes longer than it did, but less extra time than I have saved from losing the damn things.
Note: I think they're pointless in small boats and great in big ones. At 26' my boat is exactly on the crossover point.
Bodach na mara
Well-Known Member
it is refreshing to see other peoples accounts of their far from finest moments. Good to know we all make mistakes, and often good for a laugh too
My own finest moment was after I had dried out alongside a wharf to sort out a leak and when the tide rose again proceeded to motor off with the main halyard tied to the wharf. (I had been using it to remove risk of the boat falling over outwards.)
On the subject of winches, my problem with crews has always been the habit of using two hands on the sheet. You know the situation, they need to take an extra turn on the winch, so they use their left hand to grab the bit between their right hand and the winch, take the turn and trap their hand when they try to let go with the left. I am informed by a doctor (who did it themself) that the injury that results is called by the descriptive title of "de-gloving", and is much more painful than it sounds.
RupertW
Well-Known Member
I agree with you there - having had a 24 footer and a 42 footer at the same time for years (not deliberately) I was very happy with no lazy jacks on the 24 footer and would never have wanted them but am very happy most of the time in the 42 footer and found them invaluable along with the stack pack.
I found alternating sailing between the two a really good lesson in the advantages of similar equipment in very different boats.
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GHA
Well-Known Member
Stemar
Well-Known Member
My boat's 24ft and I won't be getting rid of the lazyjacks. On a smaller boar, especially in a bit of breeze, the Admiral REALLY doesn't like me leaving the cockpit, so the ability to drop the main reliably without is worth any amount of hassle getting it up.
One doesn't have to be dead to windward to put the main up or down. Slacken the sheet so the boom's free to trail downwind and you've got 60 degrees either side of the wind to play with
One doesn't have to be dead to windward to put the main up or down. Slacken the sheet so the boom's free to trail downwind and you've got 60 degrees either side of the wind to play with
mattonthesea
Well-Known Member
Reminds me of when I was teaching Med mooring helm to one our crew in Greece. Everything was perfect: the approach, the speed, the stop, the lines and I was just saying well done to the helm when the bow monkey shouted back:
"When do you want me to drop the anchor?"
Of course, that set the signal for everyone in the marina to poke their heads up like a line of meerkats!
Mine was the first round that night. So you don't ever stop getting it wrong sometimes; it just becomes more embarrassing
"When do you want me to drop the anchor?"
Of course, that set the signal for everyone in the marina to poke their heads up like a line of meerkats!
Mine was the first round that night. So you don't ever stop getting it wrong sometimes; it just becomes more embarrassing
mattonthesea
Well-Known Member
my boat is 32 ft and I don't have lazy jacks and it's fine even when solo. So long as the main drops easily it falls over the boom and I do a temp sail tie up. Once in port I flake it properly.
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
Witnessed something very similar in the Baltic. Bloke came in with wife on the bow. She hopped off and tied up perfectly. Then he remembered that he'd forgotten the stern anchor. He clearly wasn't keen to go out and do it all again so he picked it up and tried to throw it like an Olympic hammer throwing champion. It went about three feet.
prv
Well-Known Member
At least in Greece the idea of swimming it out is more appealing
A boat came in next to us with all kinds of gubbins hanging off the bow, and once they'd tied up the stern it became quite obvious that the anchor wasn't doing anything. I went to have a look and discovered it hanging just above the seabed directly under their bow, hooked into the dangling mess of rope which I think had been intended as a tripping line or anchor buoy (it had a small fender in amongst it). Their bow was just lying to a short loop of chain on the seabed.
Once I'd communicated the problem, one of their crew tried to pick up the anchor and swim with it, with obvious near-drowning results. I fetched a fender to hang it from, and with two of us swimming side by side against the drag of the chain, we managed to get it out a reasonable distance.
I suppose in the Baltic it would be a dinghy job.
Pete
Iain C
Well-Known Member
Trust me, could be worse.
Me and 2 mates were at the zenith of our dingy sailing career. Crazy sods, we'd bought an 18' skiff, specifically with the intention of doing the Mark Foy trophy in Carnac in 2009. We'd be sailing against sailing gods like Howie Hamlin, and all the Aussie and Kiwi boats. We really should not have been there in that level of company...if we could not come last that was going to be a huge achievement. We'd done hours of practice on our pond, a few UK sea events, even some time at the gym, and here we were, at the 2009 worlds. We drove into the car park in Carnac, boat in tow, and there were all these toned sailing gods, rigging these boats only ever seen on Y&Y.com...Appliances Online, GE, Pindar, 2UE, Panasonic etc etc. Gulp. Antipodean eyes narrowed as they looked at this unknown Pom...were these guys any good? Rumour has it the driver was national champion in 12' skiffs 2 years running? Were the Poms going to give the antipodeans a good drumming on northern hemisphere waters?
Out for the practice race...eyes still narrowing, people sailing over to take a look. Right up until the bit where we hoisted the kite.
Sideways.
Needless to say heads turned away and we were never given another glance all week! (Did'nt come last though!!)
Happy times though...yours truly on the stick.
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
At least in Greece the idea of swimming it out is more appealing
Believe it or not the Baltic gets pretty warm in summer and swimming in harbours is quite common - one of the main drivers for holding tanks.
In this case the boat owner cast off and did it again from the beginning.
