sherwin dubren wrote:
We used our drifter sail yesterday ... I noticed ... that with the drifter
run all the way up the forestay, there was still slack in the luff ...
sail. This is a hanked on sail. The sail came with a
built in wire lead at the tack, about 18 inches long.

Should I simply shorten this wire lead to solve this problem?

Was this sail built specifically for this boat? If that's the case then
the sailmaker (or a previous owner) just didn't set it up correctly. If
bought used, then that explains the issue. You can safely either shorten or
eliminate the wire pennant with no ill effects. Just note that this will
also require that you adjust the jib sheet lead for best trim.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare