255grizzly
New member
I wanted to report back on this attachment that I made for my genoa (a 125.) I really like the idea of it - elegant, light, diy, and easy to remove. A little bulky, but it worked great the first time two times I used it (Berkeley Jan midwinters and the 3BF.) Why did I chose this among the jib attachment options I have seen out there? Well, I don't like the look of soft shackles (silly prejudice of mine), I wanted to avoid having any hardware on the clew (which excludes dog bones and spools), and I wanted to be able to change sheets pretty easily (which eliminates luggage tagging the lines.) I also considered splicing my two sheets into a single eye, which is kinda interesting, but I have assumed that's too advanced to do myself (also a requirement; doing your own rigging is a nice way to get into a sailing "mind palace"). There's also a nifty product out there called a t clewring (all you need is a loop and sheets with eye splices.) But too late, my sails were already cut. (And perhaps that's a bit heavy on a small boat like mine.) Of course, I know the good old fashioned bowline does the trick (that's what I had been using for a while). It's just that it's bit bulky and gets caught on my shrouds fairly often.
So anyway, the reason for my post: I couldn't leave good enough alone. Although this new attachment worked fine in two races, it used up all the space in the clew ring. I couldn't put a reefing hook into it, which made it impossible to use my reaching/changing sheet. That's a big ding against it if I'm going to be changing headsails or trying to get an extra bit of speed on a long reach.
So, I tapered the line back four or five feet (that was a new one for me), eye spliced the exposed core (brummel splice with one end fixed; also a first), and then tried the whole arrangement again during last weekend's Berkeley midwinters. I was a little nervous about it because the core of the line (yale 3/8" maxi braid plus) is really "wooly" - it seems to catch on everything. It's also kinda slippery. Sure enough one of the sheets slipped loose this weekend (fortunately, before the start.) I tied a couple of bowlines and sailed on, but that was the end of that experiment. In addition, the exposed core got totally frayed against the shrouds -- the ends of the sheets looked like they were ready to retire by the end of the race.
So I am back to the drawing board. I will probably just switch to a soft shackle -- which I plan to make myself because who wants to pay $30 for something when there are tons of youtube videos on how to make your own? There's nothing like holing yourself up in the garage with a good bourbon, some music, some cool-looking tools and a lighter!
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