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Capt. JG

"Alan Gomes" wrote in message
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Capt. JG wrote:
wrote in message
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On 6 May 2008 11:10:01 -0500, Dave wrote:

On Tue, 06 May 2008 10:57:59 -0400, said:

The Sail Cradle (variation on lazy jacks) worked like a charm, and she
marveled at what a help it will be when I'm single handing, or we have
to strike the main in rough conditions.
Just curious why you chose lazy jacks over the Dutchman system. Older
sail?

Dave T.
What I have is a bit different from traditional lazy jacks. Self
adjusting, no modifications to the sail or the sail cover, stores
alongside the mast except when being used, no marking of the sails or
chafing issues. I've seen the Dutchman system on a few boats, and it
just didn't impress me. Some people like it, but I'm just not one of
them. My main is a fairly new Kappa. The two upper battens are full,
but the two lowers are partials. That isn't especially desirable for
use with the Dutchman system either.

It's a very individual thing dealing with stowing/deploying sails. I find
the Dutchman works great, but I always have the impression that the main
won't flake properly, even though it does. I got sick of the lazy jack
system on a big cat with full battens, mainly because the battens had a
tendency to catch, but for less than full battens, I'm sure they would
work fine. I know they make lazy jack systems that move the lines out of
the way when you raise the sail, but it seemed like yet more stuff to
have attached, and I like the clean lines of the Dutchman. One of my
constant concerns is someone will damage/break one of the fishing
line-like runs.. not that it would affect raising or lowering the sail. I
just don't want to have to replace them. The Dutchman certainly isn't a
panacea for all issues raising/lowering/flaking sails. One of the best
things I like about them is that they'll work significantly off the wind.
If I had full battens, I know the lazy jacks wouldn't work.

I have a full battened main and use lazy jacks. I keep them stowed at the
mast when I'm raising the sail and under sail and only deploy them before
I drop the sail. (IOW, they just stay stowed at the mast except when I'm
actually dropping the sail, and remain deployed for the short time it
takes me to get back to the dock, at which point I stow them back at the
mast for next time. It never catches when dropping the sail so I've not
had a problem with them.

--Alan Gomes

Can't imagine they would catch the battens coming down. Our problem was
catching the battens going up.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com