Now, you're gonna get it since I have some typing time . . .



"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
Hi, again :{))

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...

Wrong, Dumbo! You show what type of sailor YOU are with the above
dunderheadedness. (Can you say 'fair weather sailor') It just so happens
some us sail in gale or near gale conditions. Under those conditions
external halyards are slapping all over the freaking place when sails are
raised. It becomes even more of a whipfest when lowering the sails and
you know, Bruce, what goes up must come down. Duh! Everybody with those
pile of junk triangular mast loops will end up with a halyard tangled in
them when dousing sail. And, they will be stuck at the worst time with
flogging, flailing, out of control sails when they least want or need it.
This will require a trip up the mast CAUSED BY THE VERY STEPS that are
supposed to make it less likely that one will need to ascend the mast
under emergency conditions. Dumb, stupid, lame and bordering on the
pathetic, I say.

Speaking of pathetic...

I have well over 100# of mainsail. It's heavy enough that even jumping I
can't pull up the last foot or so; I winch it before cleating off, rather
than just tensioning the halyard. I CONTROL the line as I flake the sail.
That means I let it slip through my (bare) hand while I have my hand on
the sail to control how it falls. There is NO slack in the halyard, let
alone enough to go around a step.

It sounds to me like you need to lubricate the sail slugs or the sail track.
It shouldn't be that difficult to raise the mainsail. And, here's a trick
for you since you apparently have not learned it yourself. Raise the
mainsail as far as you can by strength alone - do not jump up and down. Then
take a wrap or two around the cleat and PULL OUT on the halyard. This will
leverage it up to the top (provided the boom goose neck isn't fixed). Then
cleat off the halyard, and push down on the boom at the gooseneck and tie
and cleat the downhaul line. Your method of lowering the mainsail and
letting the halyard slide through your fingers will result in a significant
belly in the halyard that in any kind of a stiff wind will be flopping all
over the place due to wind and seas and this belly is what gets tangled in
the crappy mast steps you have installed.


And, you've not been paying attention, either. I only want _1_ more, so I
can stand at the top of the mast. If the conditions were so severe as to
cause my otherwise-taut (I keep it taut when I've lowered the sail, and
the weight of the sail keeps it reasonably taut as I'm lowering it)
halyard to managed to navigate a 5" (not counting the half-depth mast)
step to foul on it, at (you work out the math; the step will be about 2.5'
down from the pulley exit, which is about 1" off center, and the mast has
an 8" cross section) a reasonably broad angle. Carry that angle down even
half (considering the possibility of "catenary" due to the wind, which
would have to be abeam [thus providing a gravity equivalent so that the
theory is similar when turned 90*], unlikely when stowing sails), and it
is probably close to the shroud. Ain't gonna happen :{))


It will foul eventually - don't be so naive. And, when it fouls there's
gonna be hell to pay. BELIEVE IT. If something bad can happen, it will
happen. That's Murphy's law.

So much discussion about the proposed TOP mast step when you have a series
of lower ones that will give you nothing but trouble. Boy, Skippy, you need
to look at the whole picture.


So, I conclude that the massive sail on that yacht of yours is more than
you can handle by controlling the halyard, and so you use folding steps
that only a child's shod foot can fit within (never mind the lack of a
means of not sliding off the side if you got the least bit of lift causing
that pitiful little edge on the plate they give you for safety to be
meangless).

My mast steps are 6" wide. Measure your foot, not length-wise but sideways.
If your foot is over six inches wide then you're a freak. As for my foot
slipping off the outer end, it's never happened and it's never come close to
happening. And, even if it should happen, a wise climber NEVER allows
himself to be supported by one appendage only.

Maybe Jessica would come sail with you and handle that chore for you, and
you'd have this lovely, flaked, sail without burgeoning your tender little
hands....

Duh! Another sign that you are clueless. When anchoring under sail one
doesn't waste time flaking the mainsail when dousing it. One lets it fall
down on and around the boom any way it wishes to fall. Only after other
necessary anchoring chores are completed does the captain or crew return to
the mast and flake the sail adding gaskets as he flakes the sail from the
outer end of the boom to the inner end. You, obviously don't quite have sail
handling down to an art yet. Practice some more and come back when you have
it down, please.



L8R

Skip, down from the top of the mast today, stopping in the middle just for
fun (to measure how far that halyard would have to fly to get around my
step, of course!)


As he ignores in his arrogance the pile of junk steps he's used to get up to
the top. LOL!

Skippy, you're a real hoot.


Wilbur Hubbard