These observations bring me back to the realities of halyard/reef management with lines led aft versus forward.
“Forward” on larger boats generally means winches mounted on the mast in-line with the halyards with appropriate line-stoppers. With this configuration, and suitable bracing, reefing the main in rough weather is pretty “safe” and in my experience faster and more efficient. I’m afraid that my 37’ just doesn’t quite make the grade in terms of a larger,more stable boat, much that I might wish otherwise. And what I am trying to achieve is less clutter in the cockpit which is at odds with safety considerations. I have no intention nor do I think if would be very feasible to mount winches on my mast. This leaves me with the prospect of moving the mechanical advantage away from the mast to a position in the middle of the boat. That modification right away eliminates the ability for one person to quickly pull in a reef from a single location. With that in mind, it may devolve down to moving the both the jib halyards forward. I don’t race this boat nor will I ever and after the furling jib is hoisted the 1st jib halyard is rarely touched unless there is a pressing need to adjust luff tension. The 2nd jib halyard remains dormant for the season and is reserved for emergency duties. Inside/outside peels are thing of the past… Right now a quick analysis leads to keeping the main halyard, 1st and 2nd reefing lines led aft to the cockpit. One winch for the main halyard and one for the mainsheet which will reduce the winch farm from four to two. Reefing lines led to the “unloaded” main halyard winch after the main has been placed in the tack horn and secured by one of several line stoppers. The question next is what to do about the spinnaker halyard. I can probably make a case for it being forward in some configuration given that my wife and I will be using a cruising A-sym with a sock and that would only be in lightish air. The symmetrical has been retired and most likely the spinnaker pole will continue to reside in the rafters of my shed. Much as I keep thinking about moving back to winch farms on the deck, that is an artifact from the old IOR/Tonner days with lot’s of young agile crew. I dunno, clearly it’s still a moving target for me. More crumpled up pieces of paper with deck layout designs in the trash can. Cheers, Dave Godwin 1982 C&C 37 - Ronin Reedville - Chesapeake Bay Ronin’s Overdue Refit <http://roninrebuild.blogspot.com/> > On Dec 21, 2015, at 5:07 PM, Martin DeYoung via CnC-List > <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > > Calypso still has the halyards and reefing lines forward. The spinnaker pole > downhaul (foreguy) runs aft, the pole topping lift can be led forward or aft > depending on the number of crew available during dip pole gybes. > > Calypso, being a very early IOR design with lots of displacement has a > seakindly nature in most sailing conditions making it relatively secure to > reef from the mast. If the boat was smaller and/or lighter the security of > being able to reef from the cockpit would begin to look good. > > I still use the original Barient #1 wire halyard winch for the mainsail so I > do not have to deal with long lines or tailing. Use of the wire winch is made > easier with Harken Batt cars and full battens and decades of practice. As > mentioned by others, someone needs to be by the mast to hook the reef cringle > into the reef tack horn. With the halyard, tack horn, and reefing lines all > within a few feet of each other single handed reefing is straight forward and > fast. Most of the time I can go from no reef to first reef <2 minutes, but > 2nd reef to 3rd takes longer. > > When sailing double handed I keep the spinnaker pole topping lift up forward > so I am able to preset the foreguy and topping lift to their marks allowing > for them to be self-tending during a dip pole gybe. Once I have the new guy > in the pole jaws I quickly raise the topping lift to allow the > helmsman/trimmer to complete pulling the pole aft. I leave the foreguy set > to a height that will not cause drama and allow the pole to get close to a > proper angle. > > I keep the foreguy led aft as our most regular pole adjustments are fore and > aft. When Calypso is staffed with enough crew I do run the topping lift back > next to the foreguy. I have marks on the topping lift line itself for both > fore and aft positions indicating the proper setting to clear the forestay > and pulpit during the gybe. > > Martin DeYoung > Calypso > 1971 C&C 43 > Seattle
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