Mainsail cunningham

[geoffr]

Hi all:

I wondering how others have their mainsail haul down or cunningham organised.

The old guide notes from the Moreton Bay group suggest the best way to tension the mainsail is with a line fixed to a saddle on the side of the mast, below the gooseneck, running up and through the first reefing eye, then down to the other side of the mast below the gooseneck again, to be tightened through a cleat.

Presumably, to reef the main you just let the main halyard go and pull on this Cunningham lead. I guess you could also run it right back to the cockpit if you wanted, otherwise you'd have to crawl up on the coach roof to pull it tight and cleat it at the mast.

On my boat, an earlier owner ran the downhaul from the reefing eye straight down to a block fixed on the port side of the boom, just back from the gooseneck, then back to a cleat about halfway along the boom - which means you can pull it from the cockpit (assuming you are on the port side of the boom).

I'd be interested to hear from others as to the pros and cons of these two different rigging paths.

Thanks,

[Yara50]

Yara has a typical boom vang type pulley set on the port side of the mast, and there is a S hook to hook into the reefing cringle, or may be hooked onto a saddle on the bottom of the boom. Must confess I dont use it as it is not adjustable from the cockpit.

[Mark]

Here is my setup on Aminee, it was in place when I bought it I just changed the cord to spectra.