Hello All,
I just got back from the small craft academy at Mackinaw with a new found appreciation for lazy jacks. I would like to rig a set on my weekdender and am looking for input on the best way to do that. Dave Chase had a set on his Mikes boat which made his life much easier when dropping sail as well as acting as a topping lift. My main concern is keeping them out of the way of the main sail shape, and convenience of operation. Any insight will be greatly appreciated.
Al
Al: Great meeting you and sailing with you at the Lake Pepin Messabout! Hopefully we'll meet again soon. Try this link. It may help.
Dave
Lasyjacks are kept off the sail by pulling them back to the mast and cleating them off (sort of like the image above). Some use shock cord for the lower portions, so they don't have to slack them, just stretch the cords. This is the method I prefer too, but many don't do anything to their lasyjacks, except slack them slightly to ease chafe on the sail. They just kind of hang there at the ready. Since gaff sails aren't the most efficient things in the world, leaving them in place really isn't that much of a preformance detractor. In short, anything that works will do. If you sail in heavy winds or for extended periods of time (days on end), then you'll want to pull them back to prevent chafe, but if you just putter around for an afternoon most of the time, you can live with them in place.
In the past weeks I have dramatically modified my Weekender lines system.
I don't really know if one these upgrades can be called "lazy jacks" , but it works like. My intention was to avoid sail froms falling on the cabin and on me, in the same time I desired a way to lift the boom when manoevring with the outboard or with the paddle.
[img][/img]
In this way I can raise the boom from the cabin roof. Le blue lines are on both sides and are controlled form a singel (white) halyard. At the top end there is a small block that let the two blue sides to shift each other according to the sail profile when the halyard is a little loose.
Gianluigi
Dave's lazy jacks were mounted on his lug sail and were not made up of more than a single line on each side. The main reason I am interested is when I drop the main in a hurry, I don't want to have to deal with a topping lift as well as the gaff flopping around. I want the whole works to fall in a more or less gathered heap so I can bundle the sail and gaff to get it out of my face. I also don't want it to chafe the sail, so I am interested in being able to slacken them easily from the cockpit.Â
At the academy the chop was the highest I have been in willingly. At one point I took green water over the bow. Way Kool! I'm not sure when it happened, but on one of the crossings of the Mackinaw straits, I managed to put enough pressure on the standing rigging that one of my eye bolts was pulled open. I suspect that it was on the way back when we left full sail up in those conditions and plowed back with me holding the main in both hands. Remember those pictures of a destroyer blasting through a Pacific storm? I was reminded of that scene. I want to do that again, but it is clear that I need to toughen up my rigging and I sure don't want to leave the cockpit if I don't have to. I have a whole new appreciation of what these little things can handle. I won't be as daring as I could be with a fleet surrounding me, but I sure won't shy away from a breezy day. So everything has to work fast and reliably from the cockpit which is what I am working on right now.
Al
Personally, a pile of sailcloth isn't too irritating to me, and I tend to get more messed up in the pool of mixed lines when I whang into the dock, but having a topping lift would be kinda nice...I don't much like having the boom just flop down into some spot. Hmmm. I'm heading south this Sunday and will be sailing in San Diego and will keep a part of my heard open to ideas...
Thanks!
Mike
im putting a topping lift on my skipjack, its just 1 pulley, and will make a world of difference
I've been using a topping lift since my third time out with the boat. I got real tired of the boom crashing into the taff rail when I let the halyards loose. Right now I use a topping lift that is nothing more than a line tied off high on the mast, run down through the outhaul eye and ending in a loop that is adjusted to fit over the cleat for the jiffy reef on the boom. No fuss, no muss. I simply grab the loop and lift up on the boom until it slips over the horn of the cleat and voila. If I need to lift the boom further, I use the peak halyard to take it up as far as I need it to go. Of course, I have to lash the gaff to the boom, but I would do that anyway while bundling the sails.
I'm just trying to get away from bundling the sails and gaff when I want to take to the oars or tie up at the dock.
Al
 Just Googled lazy jacks, came up with a site under "Images for lazy jacks" lots of good pictures. Just got back from a great days sailing with the grandkids, 15 plus mph winds, yes it is pain dropping the sails on a windy day. started me thinking about this post, maybe some thing I may want to do. Sailing out of the harbor we passed by the "Bounty" she is here for the weekend.