Chicken line

Looking for the simplest way to install a hand held chicken line on a 2005 nacra F18. Crew needs it when sailing to weather.
Thanks

If it's just to be hand-held, tie one end to the rear footstrap (or rudder gudgeon on the hull with a small shackle and drilled hole). Run the bitter end into the rear beam to a bunji to pull up slack.

Untitled by Green Room Graphics, on Flickr

Wait...to weather? He needs to tell his skipper to fly a hull better!

The mainsheet is a great upwind chicken line when you're pounding into chop...

Thanks I will use Jake's method, looks perfect for us. I'm 70 yrs old and she is 65.

You may need to take that all the way to the front beam so the crew will have easier access to it.

This is a little hard to explain without a diagram but on our distance race boats, we'll sometimes put a chicken line that goes from the front beam to the back of the boat that we can use when reaching in big waves. We'll tie the chicken line at both bitter ends just inside the front beam (tied to the internal casting that supports the beam bolt loads), and then tied to the rear rudder gudgeon. The chicken line goes through a micro-block at the rear beam and the micro block is tied to a bunji also in the rear beam. The micro block pulls the slack of the chicken line into the rear beam and leaves it tight against the hull. It's there for either the crew or skipper (or both) to grab and will help hold you from being washed backwards or forwards on the boat when extended.

We also have used some cleats on our trapeze harness spreader bar that we can drop the line into for convenience. It's a little hard to get the angles right on the cleat mounts but once it's right, it's really nice to have.