I got interested in the idea of a loose footed main after sailing my
friends boat with an in mast furling main. Adjusting the outhaul had
immediate , dramatic, and visible effect. Also having the outhaul
control right to hand made it a control of first resort.

I think that we lose sight of the effectiveness of various sail
contols when we have to expend extra effort to use them and the
results of the manipulation are not readily apparent. Especially
single handing.



On Fri, 5 Sep 2003 21:38:37 -0300, "Capt. Mooron"
wrote:


"Marc" wrote in message
news | The "Hot knife" method was suggested by a sail maker "Mack Sails" as
| a way of installing their Mack Pack sail cover on a bolt roped main,
| with no adverse effect on the sail. In point of fact, all the boats
| I've owned or sailed on have had slug footed mains, so passing the
| reef ties was never an issue.

There ya go... but you don't find slug footed sails all that often on boats
under 35 feet.

| I spoke to the sail maker who made my sails (Jasper and Bailey). He is
| not convinced that loose footed or fixed makes any difference on a
| CRUISING main. This weekend, I'm going to remove the attached foot
| of my main and fly it loose. if it works out, I'm just going to cut
| the slugs off et voila, a loose footed main.

I'd be interested to hear your verdict. I'm not certain why your sailmaker
claims it wouldn't make a difference. I have my outhaul and two lines
[#2&#3] run back to the cockpit. I find I adjust the outhaul quite a bit
when sailing since I've been flying free footed. I really like it much
better... except when it comes to the drop and flake. Even with lazy jacks I
find I get some spill off the boom. I was seriously considering a Stak
Pak....

CM