The head of the sail will appear fairly slack, but this will be corrected once the throat halyard is hoisted. Make the peak lashing snug but not especially tight. Once the sail is hoisted check that the cringle is in line with the luff of the sail and adjust the lashing accordingly. Leave about 2” of slack between cringle and the holes. The throat lashing at the head of the luff should be a single light line led through the cringle, up the forward pair of holes in the gaff jaws and tied across the top of the gaff. Make such lashing as snug as possible to get the sail closer to the mast. These are still available, although expensive, and thus many choose instead to lash the sail to the hoops. If your boat is pre-1985 or thereabouts, the mast hoops will have neat Nat Herreshoff-designed clips to attach the sail to the hoops. For boats with the factory jib sheet set up, which cleats inaccessibly on the port coaming, a Sperry fairlead/camcleat, mounted the port oarlock socket, will allow easy jib sheet adjustment from anywhere in the boat and is strongly recommended. Obviously the sheet will need more tension as the wind increases, but the upper and lower telltales are a good guide. This makes it easy for the crew to adjust the jib sheets on either tack, especially at the start. For racing it is much preferable to have double ended jib sheets led through deck level holes in the combing and cleated on clam cleats on the forward bulkhead. Mark the jib sheet when this is achieved. Ideally the leech of the jib should be parallel to the centerline of the boat and upper and lower telltales should break at the same time. Repeat this without fail after every tack or sheet adjustment. After sheeting it is VITAL to push the club as far to leeward as possible. When sheeting the jib use moderate tension, say 30 pounds, for windward work. With all halyards, ten minutes before the start of a race re-tension them in order to get rid of stretch. If the wind is over 15 knots, run off on a broad reach, and you will be able to get another inch or so of tension. Mark the halyard with Permanent Magic Marker for repeatability. In general set up the halyard taut with no observable scalloping between jib hanks. Use white plastic tape (hardware store) to cover such threads. The excellent supplied tell-tales may have a tendency to hang up on nearby seam stitching. ![]() The leechline should be as loose as possible without incurring leech flutter. The lace line is required by the Rules but should be dead loose. This allows the pressure of the sheet to flatten the sail for windward work while allowing a fuller shape off the wind. ![]() The jib clew should be lashed to the club allowing 1 - 1.5” inches of play. I prefer removing the club, rolling up the jib around it, and stowing it in the cockpit under the cover. If you wish to furl the sail in the traditional manner, unsnap the two lowest web straps. The other uses web snaps instead of piston hanks for securing the jib to the stay and eliminates the jackline with its windage and finicky adjustment. ![]() One is the traditional bronze piston hanks and jackline, which allows the sail to be fully lowered for furling. ![]() In ordering a new jib there are two options. Reduction of windage translates directly into less heeling moment and better pointing. Spinnaker halyards should also be 3/16” for a total saving of 60% on the windage of the 80 feet of line involved for all halyards over Doughdish-supplied three strand line. Sizes for all halyards should be 3/16” or 5mm, the minimum that the 2008 Rules allow. STS-12 Dyneema single braid has less than half the stretch of Sta-Set X, but is more expensive. V-12 Vectran single braid has 1/3 as much stretch, and three strand dacron as supplied by Doughdish has three times the stretch of Sta-Set X. Sta-Set X has 3” stretch at the sail for jib, 1.5” for throat halyard, and 1.6” for the peak halyard. Since Sperry radial cut sails have a lot less stretch than older traditional cross cut sails, the use of modern low - stretch halyards is strongly recommended. This guide is intended primarily for those interested in racing but will contain lots of information for the more casual sailor.
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