In writes:

One of our club members bought a 36-foot sailboat equipped with a Dutchman
system last year.

His comment after one season is that he could use a downhaul to get the main
down. The main does not come down as easy and flaking as advised.
It could be that the Dutchman system is not properly installed or fully
tuned up yet. Nonetheless, it gave me food for thought.

For the Dutchman to work properly you have to have the vertical parts
properly lined with the holes in the sail, the grommets big enough and
the rope smooth and the lenght of the chord you splice the vertical
parts must be such that when you ease the hallyard the weight of the
boom will make everything reasonably tight, not too tight. Then you hope
that the gravity will not fail you. :-).

Many conditions. If not properly set up, the gravity is not enough to
pull the sail down.

- Lauri Tarkkonen



"Charlie Morgan" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 13:42:44 GMT, wrote:

I wonder what Beneteau means by Semi Full Battens mainsail with Lazy
Jacks.
Why semi full batten?
Does it help the battens from catching on the Lazy Jacks?


When reading Jon's opinions, bear in mind that he has a close friend on
the
payroll of the Dutchman, and Jon gets his Dutchman products at a reduced
price.
Of course he thinks they are superior!

CWM