An Aid to Stow the Mainsail

This idea was shown me by Norman Raby, an RYA Yachtmaster instructor and has certainly been a boon on Speedy. A full size Beaufort mainsail is 116 sq ft with a luff of 21 feet and foot of 10 feet which makes it more than a handful when you want to stow it.

Norman’s idea is to keep all the sail ties organised for use as follows:-

Take a suitable length of laid rope and make a loop in one end so that it easily slips over the outer end of the boom. Attach to the other end of this rope a piece of shock cord which has a hook to engage with the inner end of the boom — a short ready made item with hooks at each end will do.

Open the lay of the rope where you want a sail tie and pass a tape through. We have five ties but another one or two would help. The tapes are two to three feet long but in some places longer would be better. When cutting the tapes remember to allow for making a loop at one end so that you can use a slip hitch rather than a knot when securing the tie round the sail.

The sail ties rope is kept in the bosun’s locker until the sail is to be stowed. Attach the rope below the boom before dropping the sail and see how it helps.

We have the tent outside the boom so the sail ties rope is a reliable and handy place to hang up all sorts of wet socks, lights, coat hangers, spectacles etc. out of harms way.

Lasso that Buoy

This is another idea learnt from Norman Raby on a 33 ft yacht but which is just as useful on Speedy.

We often want to ‘just pick up a buoy’, perhaps for a lunch stop where anchoring is not feasible.

A long painter, one that sinks is best, is used as a lasso to drop over the buoy. Preferably while on shore rigging the boat, pass the end of the painter forward outside and around the forestay and secure it back on the foredeck. Bring this large loop back outside the shrouds on one side or the other into the cockpit.

When the time comes to rest at a buoy you steer to bring the buoy to the side of the boat for the crew to just lean out and lasso the buoy. No need for boathooks or acrobatics, no need to handle dirty weedy moorings. Slipping the mooring is either by just letting go one end of the lasso or, more difficult, unhooking the lasso from around the buoy. The choice depends on whether you want to lasso another buoy before reaching a quiet place to re-rig the painter in front of the forestay.