I mentioned Friday that I have used Lazy Jacks and been on a boat with a stack pack main (note Stack Pack is basically Doyle’s variation of Dutchman). The note below captures a lot of my observations
Our last two boats came with lazy jacks. On a J27 it was plain silly. I cut them off the mast prior to launching the first time. On our 33 the boat was already launched so we put up with them the first season. They were very annoying when hoisting the sail as they love to get tangled with the ends of battens and they were in the way when putting the sail cover on. When we tried to use them to douse the sail they did not seem to help in any way as the sail simply flopped all over the place. Year two I took them off. Then one weekend cruising shorthanded (2 ppl) taking the main down with a dodger up was very slow and I thought about it some more. So year three I put the lazy jacks back on in a manner where I could easily run to base of shrouds when not in use and made an effort to determine how to use them better. Doyle Stack Pack. We went out for a Wednesday race on another Frers 33 that had just returned from a delivery back from a race week. They had their Doyle Stack Pack sail on for the race. My preconceived notion that the zipper on the sail and the stack pack would make the sail perform less well was incorrect. The sail actually had a nice shape and while not being a racing sail was as good or better a performer than pretty much any other cruising sail I have encountered. At end of the race they simply let the halyard go and zipped up the stack. No sail cover, no work at all and very impressive and quick.. All of this in a sail that did not perform badly in a casual race. Last off season we toyed with getting a stack pack, implementing a Dutchman system or something else. In the end we opted to try to make out lazy jacks work. Ours have only two lines at the boom and have the micro blocks half way up. I learned that you have to tighten the lazy jacks prior to dropping main and loosen when hoisting and sailing. Also once main is down they have to be loosened to do proper flake of the sail. Doing this helped somewhat but we learned that the aft line was too far aft on the boom and allowed a lot of the sail to escape. When we moved the aft eyestrap forward it helped quite a bit. Still however is not nearly as nice as something like a Stack Pack for the days where we would want something like this This past summer we spent two weeks cruising in the boat. We learned to like out ATN sock and asym for goofing around with spin on light days. Is far slower than no sock at all when crewed but makes an option for short handed. Also since cruising we had our dodger on the boat and up. This makes main sail handling a lot more effort than when it is off. Also not being fully crewed adds to the issues. Flaking the main with the dodger in the way of half the boom when approaching an anchorage (especially an unfamiliar one) is the best reason to have a system that allows the main to be put away in a few seconds rather than a few minutes. It was great to be not racing and have all the amenities aboard. It was also an interesting exercise to shift focus from how to rig the boat for performance to setting up for excellent cruising. The two most enjoyed features were on demand hot water and our bimini. Neiteh of which is allowed on board while we are in racing mode …. Mike Persistence 1987 Frers 33 Halifax, NS http://users.eastlink.ca/~mhoyt From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Daniel Sheer via CnC-List Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2016 10:23 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Cc: Daniel Sheer Subject: Re: Stus-List Short handed sailing; sail selection - now lazy jacks Two years ago I had Chesapeake Sailmakers make a stack pack for Pegathy. The actual admiral (Pegathy's her college nickname) is less than 5'. That's all she'll admit to. So it's difficult for her to help flake a main that's sliding all over the cabin top, much less help put on the sailcover. And it's not a one person job on a 38' boat. Except now it is, with the stack pack. The sails raises on slides in the mast, and even if there's no one at the mast encouraging the sail to flake properly (a one man job), the sail flakes pretty well anyway, as long as the boat's dead into the wind. It's wonderfully easy - lower and zip, and I leave the stack pack on and raised unless I'm racing. The main is loose footed, so the stack pack attaches to the boom via a sewn in tape that slides in the the boom slot. The whole thing can be tied close to the main with sail ties under the main for racing. The lazy jacks can then be led along the boom, straight up, then down the mast around a single cleat on each side. There's a flap that goes around the front of the boom and attaches with zippers to each side of the stack pack. All in all a wonderful arrangement, and easy to install and remove. Two complaints - 1) the boat needs to be dead into the wind when raising and when lowering the sail, or the battens catch the jacks, and 2) the stack pack can chafe on the jib sheets when tied to the boom going downwind. These are nothing when compared to the reduction in effort in raising, lowering, and covering the sail. I wouldn't be without it ever again. Oh, and I have a pacific blue sail sunbrella cover for an LF38 - very good condition, used 2 seasons - for sale if anyone wants it. Dan Sheer Pegathy, LF38 Rock Creek off the Patapsco
_______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
