My last Blog entry covered what maintenance we had done on my friend’s Fin keel Catalina 320 yacht, whilst it was out of the water. One large job remained, which we planned to do once the boat was back in the water and that was re-rigging the sails, which had been sent to the local Sailmakers for cleaning and repairs.
Well a about a week and half ago we had the perfect day for it – bright sunshine and no wind.
(Top Sailing Tip - if you are going to be hoisting sails when berthed alongside then make sure you do it when there is little or no wind. If you are at a swinging mooring then it won’t matter too much as the yacht will naturally head up into the wind, but even then the less windy the better).
(Sailing Tip - it is always advisable to have the owner’s handbook/instructions available if you have one with the correct diagrams, to help with the rigging of sails etc if you are not sure what to do).
On arrival at the yacht with the sails, our first task was to check and pack the Cruising Chute ready for use in our first race of the season which was rapidly looming.
(Top Sailing Tip – we have rigged up 3 large hooks which are suspended from the deckhead in the Saloon, to make it faster and easier to pack the Cruising Chute. One for the Tack, one for the Head and one for the Clew.)
When preparing the Cruising Chute for re-packing we staredt with the Tack, hooked that on the forward of the 3 hooks and then ran our hands along the Luff to ensure the sail wasn’t twisted until we arrived at the Head which we then hooked up to the next or central hook and then followed the same procedure along the Leach to the Clew and hooked that up on the last remaining free hook ,and then ran our hands along the Foot of the sail until we arrived back at the Tack. Happy that the Cruising Chute wasn’t twisted we then pack the sail into it’s bag ensuring that the Tack, Head and Clew were all exposed ready for clipping on prior to use. That done, we stowed the bag in the fore cabin.
(Sailing Tip - Often these sails and Spinnakers have different coloured cloth along the Luff, Leach and Foot (e.g. Red, Blue and White) to make it easier to check and prepare for packing.)
Our next task was to rig the headsail, in this case a Genoa. The yacht has a self-furling rig for the headsail and so utilises a drum at the bottom of the Forestay and a Top-Swivel which is connected to the headsail halyard which slides up and down the Forestay.
Prior inspection of the Genoa highlighted that there was still some minor stitching repairs outstanding on the Leach of the of the sail, so it would have to go back to the sailmakers for the overlooked repairs. However, as they were only minor repairs and we had our first race only 5 days away, plus we needed to have some time at sea to shakedown and ensure everything was working, we decided to rig the headsail and remove it ahain straight after the impending race.
So we cracked on and connected the Tack to the top of the drum using the in-situ shackle, and the attached the Head to the Top-Swivel, again using the in-situ shackle. Next we secured two lines for the Port and Starboard Sheets to the Clew, using Bowlines and ran the Sheets back aft outside of the Standing Rigging, through the Sheet Lead Blocks on the slider tracks, Port and Starboard respectively. Then a stopper knot (Not a figure of eight) was placed at the end of each headsail sheet, to prevent them running back through the blocks, and then each was taken around the main Port and Starboard winches a couple of turns. We then ‘Bent On’ the headsail by feeding in the Luff ‘Bolt Rope’ into the Forestay self-furling groove and hoisting the headsail halyard. Once up and tight, we placed a light tension on one of the headsail sheets and furled the headsail around the forestay until just the Clew was prominent and then took up the slack and secured both the headsail sheets around the Port and Starboard main self-tailing winches, respectively.
Before rigging the mainsail, we made sure the Boom was midships, supported by the Topping Lift and secured the main sheet, to prevent the traveller moving around. Also we decided not to refit the Dutch Rigging that this yacht comes with (helpful for short hand sailing when dropping the mainsail).
With the mainsail pre-positioned and flaked out neatly on the coachroof, we carefully removed the locking plate (4 screws) at the bottom of the main mast groove to allow the Luff sliders to go into the mainmast groove. Next we attached the Tack to the Tack Cringle where the Boom meets the mast. Then we attached the Clew Outhaul, which runs through the boom to the Clew and fed the Foot Bolt Rope into the Boom groove and gently pulled the mainsail Foot back along the boom making sure it didn’t snag at all, and then tightened and secured the Clew Outhaul at the end of the Boom. Then we attached the Main Halyard to the Head of the mainsail and carefully hoisted the mainsail with someone feeding the Luff plastic sliders into the mainmast groove and as the mainsail went up we stopped to fit the plastic battens into the appropriate batten pockets securing them in place with the Velcro flaps on the Luff of the sail. We also rigged the two reefing lines through the appropriate eyes in the mainsail with one end secured around the boom with a bowline and the other down through fairleads either side of the mast and back though the appropriate jammer/stopper on the coachroof.
(Top Sailing Tip – when trying to pass a line through a stopper/jammer, the best way to do it is to feed in the line at the mouth and keep a little pressure on the line and then work the locking lever through its full arc of travel several times, as you do this the internal jaws will draw the line through the stopper until it emerges at the other end, when you can then just pull the rest of the line through and then take up any slack / tension the line with the locking lever down.)
With the mainsail up tight and halyard secured, we could checked everything to make sure all the lines were correct and then finally we re-secured the locking plate back on the bottom of the main mast groove to stop the mainsail Luff plastic sliders coming back out. We eased off the Topping Lift so the weight of the Boom is taken by the mainsail and then retightened it, happy that it was moving ok. We then dropped the main sail and flaked it either side of the boom and the secured it with sail ties at the appropriate points along the boom and then covered the mainsail and boom with the mainsail cover and secured it in place with its fasteners.
A final check of everything to make sure we hadn’t missed anything and then we secured the yacht.
Next week is our first race of the Season so come back and find out how we faired.
Happy Sailing
Martin
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