Hi All

Here's a pic of the problem I was having with the yard hauling parrel, it's solved now but I thought I'd confused enough people trying to describe it that I'd better post a pic, I mucked about a bit trying to get it to display properly but no joy.

Bill

EDIT: If you right click the picture and select "Open in new tab" it's rightway up and zoomable.

Bill wrote: I'm not sure what you mean, the YHP has to be snugged up to function, if I let it off so there's enough length for it to come down it won't hold the yard against the mast, I'm going to go out and take some pics shortly so I'll try to get one that shows what's happening.Usually I have to douse because the sheet has gotten fouled, usually on me, things are pretty cramped in Bottoms Up and pretty well every piece of rope is a couple feet longer than it should be because I'm still getting all the rigging figured out and they might need to be longer. When I do douse the sail it works perfectly, instantly, and every time, at least it did till I started having trouble with the yard hauling parrel.

Well, yes, once you're underway, you snug the yard into the mast so that the sail sets properly, but when you reef the sail down the last few panels, you can let the YHP go first, and you should then have no problem with the sail coming down, because the yard will swing away from the mast.  Then you can take out the slack again, once you have reefed down as far as you want.  Or am I completely misunderstanding what you are saying?

Anonymous wrote:

Bill wrote:

 the problem is that there's not enough length in the yard hauling parrel to allow the yard to move aft far enough to let the sail drop the last bit if the sail is already reefed when I need to douse it, it works fine if the sail is all the way up.

Erm - why not treat yourself to a longer bit of string?

I'm not sure what you mean, the YHP has to be snugged up to function, if I let it off so there's enough length for it to come down it won't hold the yard against the mast, I'm going to go out and take some pics shortly so I'll try to get one that shows what's happening.

Thank you for posting the rope clutches, those'll be perfect and should be fairly easy to make, in fact it should be pretty easy to make one that'll release both the halyard and the YHP at the same time, Brilliant, you've saved me from at least one swim :) Thanks David

Usually I have to douse because the sheet has gotten fouled, usually on me, things are pretty cramped in Bottoms Up and pretty well every piece of rope is a couple feet longer than it should be because I'm still getting all the rigging figured out and they might need to be longer. When I do douse the sail it works perfectly, instantly, and every time, at least it did till I started having trouble with the yard hauling parrel.

Funny thing is, as cramped as the boat is nothing ever seems to be within easy reach, unless it's underneath something, usually me :) 

I really need to get things squared away.

Thanks again for your helpful posts, it's nice to be able to ask about a rig I'm interested in without someone trying to sell me on, or just plain sell me, the bermudan rig.

Bill

Bill F wrote:

Thanks David :)

 I guess what I need to do is come up with a quicker way of uncleating, maybe a set of jamb cleats for the halyard and YHP, I've been wanting to do something different, atm my lines are tied off to cleats on the partner so I'm reaching behind me to deal with the halyard and YHP.

Bill

I use rope clutches for the halyard and luff hauling parrel. But being a larger boat the cost was a bit more justified. Rope clutches let go almost instantly whereas jamb cleats can some times be slow to release if there is a lot of load on the line. In these situations where you need to get rid of sail quickly does just dumping the mainsheet help? 

I guess in terms of dropping sail quickly a larger boat with a heavy sail and yard has it's advantages, if I dump the mainsheet and release the halyard the sail is down before the Skipper can say 'Drop the sail'.

Jami Jokinen wrote:

Regarding fore and aft position of the sail on the mast, this can normally be adjusted by position of the sling point on the yard, and adjustment of the boom parrel, or line that forces the boom aft because without this line the whole sail will want to swing forward from the sling point. On Footprints I have a system which allows me to swing the whole sail across the mast when off the wind to reduce any weather helm.

David,

Could you enlighten us more about this and especially on your adjustable system, please?

Currently this is excactly what I need for two reasons: to help weater helm in certain situations (following wind) and to find the optimal "general" sail position.

The credit for this goes to David Tyler who helped me with all the systems on my rig. Footprints has always developed an amount of weather helm due in part to the low aspect single sail rig, and as I later discovered also due to rudder problems which have now been solved through the construction of a new rudder. When the new camber panel sail was fitted the weather helm was worsened. Initially I solved this by sailing with the lower portion of the sail canted across the mast which had the effect of moving the CE of the sail forward. Subsequent to this I raked the mast forward by about 3 degrees which allowed the whole rig to sit better, and largely solved the weather helm problem, along with the new rudder at a later date. I found however that it was still worthwhile canting the sail across the mast when sailing off the wind as this eliminated any weather helm, and allowed me to carry a lot more sail than I normally could in stronger winds, and go FAST which I really like doing.

See the diagram below which I hope is self explanatory, but basically a line is needed from the forward end of the boom which goes around the mast, back to the forward end of the boom, and then down to a turning block at deck level, and back to the cockpit. A second line is needed which is attached to the mid point of the boom, goes around the mast, back to the boom attachment point, down to a deck turning block at the base of the mast and then back to the cockpit. These two lines can either pull the boom well forward across the mast, or back. With this system long batten parrels are required. Mine are of webbing and attach at the forward end of the battens, and at the half way point of the battens. Also be aware that when canting the bottom of the sail across the mast in this fashion the aft end of the sail will droop down closer to deck level, so uncontrolled gybes are not recommended!

So basically when sailing to windward the boom and sail are pulled back so the luff of the sail is roughly parallel to the mast, when off the wind the boom is hauled forward so that almost half the length of the boom is across the mast. This also requires adjustment of the LHP each time the sail is moved.