Okay guys- I know I should know this by now, but I only have one sail with a rope luff and it's the only one I have to use a halyard on and I haven't used that mast/sail in ~ 2 years. I know in the past I have had "issues" with getting the AHPC ring to "catch" if I tie the halyard a certain (wrong obviously ) way.
Can someone tell/show me the "correct" way to do it?

Thanks guys!

Kirt

I don't really know but through the power of google I bring you this from the hobie web pages.

The buntline hitch is a small effective knot but you may not like it here because it doesn't like to be untied. If you were wanting to leave the ring on the halyard it would be worth a try.


And I found this, something called a topsail sheetbend, which would probably work if you have the two loop ring.

My preferred method

-1- Tie a figure 8 knot on the very end of your halyard.
-2- Grab the halyard ring and loop the halyard through it
-3- Bend the halyard around the part that is vertical and that is just before loop around the ring.
-4- Put the end with the figure 8 knot under itself; the part that is between ring and the bend around the halyard.
-5- Tidy the knot up by sliding all excess line out of the knot so that the figure 8 knot sits next to the halyard itself. So that is actually rests on the halyard itself

In fact this knot is very close to a simple hitch. The working core is the figure 8 knot. This prevents the hitch from becoming undone under tension. This knot is very small and easy to undo even after it has been under alot of tension.

NOTE !!

Make sure that the side the figure 8 knot is on (pointing to) is NOT the side on which the halyard is passing the hook up the mast. If this is the case that the knot will prevent the hook from engaging easily. So if the halyard runs past the hook on the left then have the figure 8 knot point to the right. In this case everything should be rather easy.

Wouter

Wouter-
Thanks for the information! One question- does the halyard (I assume) pass in front (ie, on the mast side) of the top of the ring? I presume if it passed to the aft it would be almost impossible to pull it past the hook or to get it unhooked?

Thanks!

Kirt

Forward of the ring. The only way to unhook it is turn the boat over and manually unhook it. Did it in Gulfport this year . It must exert toom uch pressure against the mast for it to unhook. PIA.

I think you need to think of the ring as being oriented fore and aft. IE the knot will either be on the port or starboard side of the luff groove. That is because the hook is to the side of the groove. With that in mind, the knot needs to be on the side opposite of the hook.
I just realized that I don't know what I'm talking about. Most of my experience has been on a N5.2 and I'm still waiting for my Blade. So don't pay me any mind. What I will do when I get my new rig is lay it over like Tom had to and work the hook and unhook thing so I better understand how it works.


Tom, did you grab the mast rotator and rotate the mast for all you were worth before trying to unhook the main?

Yep. Chuck H pulled/twisted, Matt M pulled/twisted, I pulled/twisted. It was not happening - it also looked like the ring got high enough to "jump" out of the top of the sailtrack and made pulling on the halyard a lot tougher, as well. Complete fubar.

Funny thing about that episode....It was the last day of the series and in the last race I was over the starting line early (returned to clear), then had a minor rudder issue and went back to the beach (and got a DNF) - I dropped out because I was thinking that I could be first off the beach for my 8 hour drive home. This problem made me LAST off the beach, LAST on the trailer and practically LAST out of the parking lot. The sailing gods beat me to death about quitting that race!! Never happen again.

Since then I've put the sail up 7 or 8 times to get it all figured out and I THINK the line is forward of the ring (my pin goes from starboard to port). I figured that if the line was behind the hook it was exerting pressure on the ring as the halyard went through he top pully on the mast and basically prevented it from sliding back over the hook - no matter what.

I'll double check next time.

Be wary of the sailng gods.

Tom-
Yeah, that was similar to my experience- I couldn't get the darn thing to catch and then I couldn't get it to unlatch!! Had to lay the boat over too Then someone (here?) told me how I SHOULD do it and it worked fine. Give me my "pushup" luff anytime!

Thanks!
Kirt

I guess it would look like this one.

Mark,

About 2.5 years ago you made for us a picture showing a summary of the F16 class rules. Since then a few things have changed so are you willing to make an updated version of this picture :

http://www.geocities.com/f16hpclass/F16_boxrule_quick_reference_sketch.jpg

Thanks,

Wouter

Sure, provided I can trace back the original drawing. I believe I did it as a DWG at the time. Just indicate what you want to have changed.

I tied the haliad to the shackle top on the outside of the ring. This takes the knot away from the ring ensuring no interferance and being on the outside of the ring as it is pulled up the ring is forced onto the hook.
To release just release any tension and fully rotate mast while pulling sail down to disengage hook.
Works easily for me.
Cheers