Sail Handling

[49captain]

I just received my Horizon Day Cat and I'm learning about it.  I have a question:  what's the best way of handing the sail when lowering it?

I had lazy jacks on my Island Packet 29 and loved them.  I installed them on a previous boat I owned, a BayRaider, which is a 20-ft. gaff-rigged ketch, and they were a real pain.  The gaff was always getting hung up in them and no matter how I organized them they were always getting caught on things when raising the mast.

The boom gallows on the Horizon will keep the boom from falling into the cockpit so a topping lift is not essential while lowering the sail.  I figure I can snug up the main sheet to keep the boom in the gallows during lowering.  But the sail will still fall into the cockpit.

I've read about rolling the sail, which sounds like it could work.  Is that pretty simple?  Are lazy jacks the best way.  How about the Doyle Stack Park or the MackPack?  Other ideas, war stories, entertaining interludes?

Thanks.

[rbh1515]

Ron,
I installed a boomkicker and lazy jacks.  I think both are helpful.
Rob

[49captain]

What brand of boomkicker?  Is yours on the cruiser or the DayCat?  On my DayCat the kicker would have to be mounted at the base of the mast.   Did you look at a topping lift and choose the boomkicker instead?

I like the idea of the boomkicker - fewer lines.

[hoddinr]

Although I have a SunCat and not a Horizon Cat, I have gone through the boom kicker, Lazy Jacks, and topping lift choices on Nomad, and finally settled on the combination of topping lift and use of the boom gallows.

I took the boom kicker off first, because it required a different setting on the adjustment on the boom for stowing the boom and sailing.  I sail solo, so I had a hard time being in two places at once.  After that disaster was removed I used the lazy jacks and they were great, but when I had to replace my mast at Com-Pac, they took them off and advised against putting them back on.  Too much slapping and chaffing on the sails, Gerry said. So I tried just using the boom gallows with nothing else.  After banging the heck out of the boom gallows a few times, I decided to add a topping lift that I could adjust from the cockpit.  That's where I am now, and it's not difficult to get the sail down and furled at all. 

Oh, I added a throat halyard downhaul, which is a blessing when lowering the sail in any kind of wind.

Ron Hoddinott
SunCat Nomad

[49captain]

Interesting.  I'm thinking about following your lead.  The boom kicker is a nice idea but I've never used one so I'm reluctant to try it.  The topping lift is simple and I like it.  I have a bimini and it would  make deploying the bimini a lot easier.  I'll think about the lazy jacks after I've gotten a few trips under my belt.  There were a problem on the BayRaider I had.

Thanks for the insight.

[hoddinr]

So how did you like the Bay Raider 20?

Ron

[49captain]

It was a great boat in several ways.  It had a classic look with a wood mast and boom.  I fashioned some dead eyes out of Osage orange wood and a friend of mine fitted the lower ones with ss straps.  I used dyneema and replaced the original shrouds and fittings and it looked great.  The water ballast system worked OK and made the boat very stable in wind.  If the wind was light I wouldn't use ballast and that boat would MOVE.  It was roomy and a lot of fun to sail.  It was a head turner and was one of the most beautiful production boats I have seen.  Plus, as a ketch rig, it was really fun to sail.  Lock the tiller down and you could use the mizzen sheet to steer.  If the wind was steady it would steer itself with the tiller locked down.  It also would heave-to very nicely.  I took it offshore in three foot waves and handled those seas quite well.  Also, it was a quality boat.  I think the entire boat was if first-class construction.

I was ambivalent about the outboard motor well.  The motor handle intruded into the cockpit.  In a chop or in rough seas water would get into the cockpit.  That wouldn't have been a problem with a transom-mounted motor.  However, it put the motor in a convenient, protected location.

There were some downsides.  You cannot partially fill the water ballast bilge - it is all or nothing. The self-bailers did not work well.   If it was rough I didn't feel safe emptying the ballast until I was at the pullout.  I tried a manual bilge pump but that took quite a while.  I usually ended up putting the boat on the trailer to drain the ballast.  I fooled with an electric bilge pump but there wasn't really room for a battery. The mast was mounted in a tabernacle on the deck so you had to remove the mains'l and boom for transporting.  When you launched to had to re-rig the sail and boom.  The mizzenmast mast was carbon fiber so it was easy to handle but the mains'l and boom were heavy.  Also, no room for a head and no cabin.  That was fine when we lived in Kentucky and sailed on lakes but when we move to Florida and began sailing on large bodied of water that became an inconvenience.

We sold it to buy an Island Packet 29.  After 5 years of cruising that boat we sold it and downsized.  I love the boats that Swallow Boats builds but the single sail and the inboard diesel were what sold us on the HDC.   In addition, the Swallow Boats are more performance oriented than the catboats and we - in our very late 60's and early 70's - are more interested in simplicity, stability, and ease of sailing.  We looked at the Swallow line but to get a head in the boat it would have had to be bigger than we wanted.

Swallow builds a great boat and if we were 30 years younger we would seriously consider one of their Boats.

[hoddinr]

Thanks for the honest appraisal of the Bay Raider 20, Ron.

Ron

[rbh1515]

Here's a YouTube vid of my boat showing the boomkicker and my very simple low tech lazy jacks.  Never had the gaff caught up in the lazy jacks.
Rob

https://youtu.be/W2Smfa0Go0E

[carry-on]

Your video shows a cushion that folds over the coaming. Where can I buy such an item?
Thanks.

[rbh1515]

I got them at the Chicago Strictly Sail...I think they are C Cushions:  http://www.ccushions.com/products.htm
Rob

[carry-on]

Thanks for the info.