BYYB Forums

Man, is it boring down here.  

So, I tried something new this year and I suppose I should tell ya'll about it.  This year I rigged what is known as a Gerr downhaul.  It is basically just a redirect of a regular jib downhaul that gathers up the jib in its middle so that it doesn't  hang all over the place but instead sits in a nice bundle at the head of the bowsprit. 

To rig one you need to mount a small block at the forestay attachment eyebolt on the bowsprigt.  Then you tie two small  blocks to one another through the eyelet on the luff that is about half way up the sail.  These blocks must be positioned as close to the line perpendicular to the clew and as close to one another as you can get them.  That's it. 

To rig the downhaul, start by passing a 1/8 inch line through the block at the foot of the forestay then up to one of the blocks that is mounted on the luff of the sail.  Pass the line through that block then back to the clew of the sail passing it through to the other side of the sail.  Run the line to the block at the luff of the sail and then up to the head of the sail and tie it off how ever you like.  Raise the sail tight and measure the line back to an attachment point accessible from the cockpit leaving a few feet for a tail.  There you have it.  Rigged this way it should run easy enough to pull down in a blow without snagging.   I can't conceive of it working at all  with the clubfoot though. When you are sailing with this line attached, leave it pretty loose.  It will get in the way otherwise.  I  wish that I knew about this when I first started out.  I would have made accommodations for its attachments part of my original rigging plans.

Al

That's pretty cool Al.  I've been trying to figure out a way to do this while underway in my Skipjack.  I may have to adapt you idea for my boat.  I want to revise all my rigging so that I can do everything with one hand, while my other hand is on the tiller.

That's pretty cool Al.  I've been trying to figure out a way to do this while underway in my Skipjack.  I may have to adapt your idea for my boat.  I want to revise all my rigging so that I can do everything with one hand, while my other hand is on the tiller.

Pretty simple idea and it does work, but each  boat will work best with its own particular set up. 

I have found that dropping the jib and holding it  down is a great reef.  It really slows you down in an adventurous wind, maybe more than it should.  Figuring out where to run it back to the cockpit and how to hold it tight can be a head scratcher,  but that is one thing that can be played with over time.
 
I have a single line reef set up on  my weekender that takes less than a minute to work.  I can also do it while sitting down and handling the tiller, as long as I don't get fussy about the ties. 

Al

Thanks for this, Al. I regularly sail an FJ solo off a beach that's often crowded with swimmers, so being able to scavange the jib quickly and easily will make for a safer launch/return process, with better visibility.

FYI, there's some additional info on the topic of brailing sails (both main and foresails) at the following link:
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.p...a-foresail

Glad to see you're still sailing in your mind, hope its all going well.

Dale

Not a bad idea.

I like it.