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