I'd offer that you have no idea how much halyard tension is
desirable on a keelboat of this size, and I'll bet you haven't tried
"putting one's foot hard & high against the mast, & alternately
drawing the halyard outward" in any kind of seaway.


Roger Long wrote:
You'd be wrong. A quarter century of sweating halyards on boats from
7 to over 300 feet.


You seem to take offense at almost every post of mine, which is not my
intent.

I suggest you talk to a sailmaker about how much halyard tension you
should set on your genoa. If you're comfortable with trying to get that
much force by sweating up the line, then great.

OTOH having sailed on both sides (hot-stuff racers & gaffers) for 3+
decades, I can tell you for a fact that you cannot get sufficient
halyard tension on a modern rig that way, except on small boats (SA200
or maybe a little more).

But don't believe me. Talk to a couple of sailmakers.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

No offense taken or meant. I'm confused though. I thought you were
saying that you *could* get sufficient tension by sweating. Maybe one
of us is replying to the wrong reply.

We can get close (although probably not optimum) sweating our small
working jib but the genoa needs a lot more.

--

Roger Long



"DSK" wrote in message
.. .
I'd offer that you have no idea how much halyard tension is
desirable on a keelboat of this size, and I'll bet you haven't
tried "putting one's foot hard & high against the mast, &
alternately drawing the halyard outward" in any kind of seaway.


Roger Long wrote:
You'd be wrong. A quarter century of sweating halyards on boats
from 7 to over 300 feet.


You seem to take offense at almost every post of mine, which is not
my intent.

I suggest you talk to a sailmaker about how much halyard tension you
should set on your genoa. If you're comfortable with trying to get
that much force by sweating up the line, then great.

OTOH having sailed on both sides (hot-stuff racers & gaffers) for 3+
decades, I can tell you for a fact that you cannot get sufficient
halyard tension on a modern rig that way, except on small boats
(SA200 or maybe a little more).

But don't believe me. Talk to a couple of sailmakers.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

Roger Long wrote:
No offense taken or meant.

OK, good. There are better things in life to spend time on.

... I'm confused though. I thought you were
saying that you *could* get sufficient tension by sweating. Maybe one
of us is replying to the wrong reply.


Probably me... I was saying that I was doubtful it would be possible to
get enough tension that way, especially if you're picky about how your
sails set.

Your boat isn't one of the high-stress racers with tons of force on
backstay & genoa luff, but it will still benefit from more tension than
a towline would generate. The tack is the most heavily loaded corner of
the sail, the halyard tension is usually greater than the sheet tension.

OTOH I agree with 'lbrty4us' that the common arrangement of a small
one-speed winch mounted on the mast (at just the right to do bodily
injury), with a horn cleat below it, is not particularly good
arrangement. If you wanted to stick with securing the halyard on the
mast, a good winch & clutch would be a vast improvement.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King