This is my current jib sheeting arrangement. Henry On Sun, Oct 13, 2019, 1:19 AM John Schinnerer <john@eco-living.net> wrote:
Thanks for the pic and other links, very helpful in thinking about my setup. In particular this...
On 10/12/19 7:57 PM, Henry Rodriguez wrote:
I almost never use the winches while singlehanding with the jib or Genoa or even the storm jib. Just trim and release from the high side. If the wind is strong enough to require the extra power I take it as a sign that I have too much sail up.
I don't use the winches for winching, either...I put a couple wraps on them and then to the cleat, but I don't even keep a winch handle handy in the cockpit. If I need to sheet in and can't pull by hand, I just head up quickly to soften the jib, sheet in, fall off to course again.
I am now thinking (out loud here), from your comment above, why do I bother with winches myself? Partly habit I think from sailing regularly on a couple of larger sailing club boats some years ago. There was crew (like me) to wo/man the winches, and they were necessary in anything beyond light air.
Already, when I am in a particularly swirly spot, like getting in or out of a cove, I do skip the winch and just hand-hold the jib sheets for quick trim and/or tack while getting to steadier wind.
Plus I now have a new higher cut cruising/reefing jib, so I have to put my jib sheet blocks considerably further aft than with the OEM 'deck sweeper' genoa. To get them to the winches without crossing over themselves I put a second set of blocks forward on toe rail to lead to winches. Which works, but adds another place for sheets to catch or tangle, and another couple pieces of hardware to keep track of.
And the wraps on the winch put loops in the sheet that sometimes run to and jam in the block...especially when tacking in a hurry, throwing the sheet off the winch without un-looping the loops.
So you've got me thinking - if the geometry works out right, I may be able to skip the winches AND the second set of leading blocks on toe rail, and just run the sheets from the aft blocks direct to the eye (or turning block of some kind like your customization) on swivel cams.
I am gonna do some measuring and experimenting...that would be great if it works. Simpler to rig, and to use.
Meanwhile I thought about how you replaced the eye with the stand-up block - the pic helps - it would reduce friction, especially when change of sheet angle at eye/block is large. Which it would be in my case, with the sheet coming from a block aft on the toe rail to the swivel on the coaming, and then across cockpit to me on the windward side. 75-85 degrees most of the time probably.
The Ronstan unit with the stainless center in the nylon eye is probably less friction than the sharper bend around the wire eye on the Nautos unit (OK for small turning angles but not large ones). And a block like your setup is probably the least friction.
Always something to improve... :-)
cheers, John
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com
