This maybe off on a slight tangent, and it may be a stupid question, but I am just curious: When you have a self-tacking jib, would it be more efficient if it was fully-battened?
F18 is planning to allow fully battened jibs by 2007 (giving you folks PLENTY of time to plan ahead...again, no arms race!). It will be interesting to see what it will offer but I'm not sure what it will do for performance and tunability. On one hand I think the all fabric jib gives you more feedback - but I've never sailed with a fully battened jib so I'm not sure.
Picture nr 2: What on earth happend with the cat on the trailer in the background? Hit by a really fast powerboat??
Also, why the plastic ball on the end of the sheet, visible just behind the block on the jib?
What is the reason behind the high clew on the jib? Is it necessary or could it be lowered without sheeting block to block in a blow (or is your mast to be raked more) ?
Also, why the plastic ball on the end of the sheet, visible just behind the block on the jib?
I saw that too - and I think it is an answer to the question I pondered previously. If the user wants to maintain more tension on the jib without it coming inboard so much (i.e. higher wind), you hook that ball into the spring clip located on the travler. That adds one more purchase to the jib sheeting arrangement giving you more tension on the jib clew without increasing the load on the single sheet coming from the bridle foil (which would make the jib want to come to center).
Exactly Jake, it is a doubler, only used in higher wind, and when beating. It is released when reaching and downwind.
Rolf, long story on the other boat in the background, but you hit it right on the head. I was T-Boned by a 31' Monterey that was fully planing, (20+ knots?)I never saw a thing. My psychiatrist told me to buy another boat immediatly (that is what I told my wife) to recover from the poat traumatic stress that ensued.
Also, why the plastic ball on the end of the sheet, visible just behind the block on the jib?
I saw that too - and I think it is an answer to the question I pondered previously. If the user wants to maintain more tension on the jib without it coming inboard so much (i.e. higher wind), you hook that ball into the spring clip located on the travler.
Err, ok.. If I have got this right then, this jib setup has two modes besides what you can achieve with sheeting. Low and high wind setting, adjusted by increasing the purchase between jib and track.. I begins to sound a bit complicated to me, as compared to the curved track with stoppers.
Would be interesting to do some two-boat testing, and see if the auto-adjustment feature of the straight track was faster or slower in the pure boatspeed sense (perhaps you already have done so Bill?).
Wouter: Yes, I'll do some testing with increased purchase between the jib and jib-track when the season starts again. Altough we are quite satisfied with the simple and powerful cascade system we have today.
The original question seems to have been thoroughly answered by now tough.
Rick - Sorry for the vague question. However you got to the heart of my question. I wasn’t sure the blocks would work if they flopped down on the tramp and I wasn’t sure how you would keep them pointing in the right direction.
If I read your answer correctly, you’re recommending I use the springs at the attachment point and a bungee between the two new blocks. However, wouldn’t they still move fore & aft - or would the springs (along with the bungee) basically do the job?
Eric – Thanks for all the pics – they’re worth a thousand words! Question for you - Instead of returning the jib sheet below the crossbar & tramp from the forestay, do you think it would work going over the crossbar to a block attached to the crossbar? I would like to avoid cutting a hole in the tramp.
Bill
You guys really have to excuss me here
[Re: arbo06]
#42459 01/08/0503:11 PM01/08/0503:11 PM
Exactly Jake, it is a doubler, only used in higher wind, and when beating. It is released when reaching and downwind.
And there goes the "automatic" part !
The tornado guys need to come in to the mast in order to adjust the jib sheeting, if we believe Bill, and you must go past that to go to the far leeward side and pull on that plastic bead and hook it to the car.
I rest my case.
And please forgive me arbo, it is nothing personal to any of you and I still think such a straight track is a good option for cruisers and such. Just not because it is better but because it is so easy to implement even with a tensioned wire.
Regards,
Wouter
Wouter Hijink Formula 16 NED 243 (one-off; homebuild) The Netherlands
Having owned a 6.0NA, I'm familiar with the setup that you have. Most 6.0 Owners changed from the cross wire "cheese slicer" to modifying their trampoline with a series of gromets and a high-tech line laced through them. The bottom of each jib block would have a snap shackle by which it would be attached to the various loops of line on the trampoline. Here's a couple of pictures.
Having the jib block lying on the trampoline was never a big problem for me and I never had to deal with the cheese slicer because I was the skipper . The crew always bitched and moaned about it though... However, occasionally a jib block would wedge itself neatly under the cheese slicer and would not come free without going to the low side to manually free it. You can keep that from happening by simply putting the block on a short 3" pigtail going back to the wire pulley. That gives enough separation so that even if the block goes under the wire, putting tension on the jib sheet will pull it clear.
Last edited by Jake; 01/08/0505:18 PM.
Jake Kohl
Re: Back to the topic of the thread!
[Re: Jake]
#42462 01/08/0503:33 PM01/08/0503:33 PM
. The crew always bitched and moaned about it though... However, occasionally a jib block would wedge itself neatly under the cheese slicer and would not come free without going to the low side to manually free it. You can keep that from happening by simply putting the block on a short 3" pigtail going back to the wire pulley. That gives enough separation so that even if the block goes under the wire, putting tension on the jib sheet will pull it clear.