INVESTIGATOR 563

Last Sunday we decided to sail down to the fireworks/carols , an annual event for us even though the weather forecast was not looking good. As my wife was busy in the afternoon I went ahead solo and planned to pick her up later at Warners Bay. There was predicted thunderstorms that did not materialise till Id left the mooring but seemed well on the Western shore so I figured the NE er would be blowing it way and continued on . It was sunny on my side of LM. Half way across the lake the NE hit me hard. I had too much main up but only the the No2 jib.

Then things got ugly fast. The top two hanks tore out of the jib. Fortunately or maybe unfortunately I had eschewed the furler because of the predicted weather and just had a standard halyard setup. While scrambling up on the foredeck to drag the jib down I neglected to adjust the main which was sheeted on too hard for the current wind velocity and the boat went well over. This did not worry me too much as the boats inherent stability kept her up , but standing on a wet deck at a sudden and unexpected 45 degrees proved more interesting. I dragged down the jib, unclipped the twin blocks off the clew and stuffed most of the sail in the front hatch , still attached at the bottom of the forestay. Unfortunately at this point the 'on' sheet slipped out of its cleat a slipped through the deck guides. Long story short he windward sheet simply ran through and over the side went my twin blocks.

By this stage I figured Speers Point was a long way away and the RMS was clearing tinnies off the lake, so I headed back to the mooring under motor. Interestingly the storm must have been at a higher altitude than the NEer as it came on towards me and I just beat it back to the Mooring. I just got the sails inside and the main rolled around the boom before realising I was standing on a wet boat holding a stainless halyard with lightning a few hundred meters away goose!

Secured everything and closed the hatches before it hit. Not much rain just noise. Now the point of the post

I originally thought the wind had torn the hanks out of the sail which surprised me as i check the sails and they are in good nick but actually the screws holding the hanks on had corroded inside the sail but looked fine on the outside . The top one went and put strain on the second. Possibly had I not released some of the jib sheet tension when it happened it may have been a domino effect all the way down.You can just make it out in this pic. My wife joined me on the mooring for tea after the storm left and we later began motoring for a second attempt on the festivities in very calm conditions before turning back after reading on the web that it was cancelled (although other news reports said they had it earlier just after dark). The moral of the story is check your hanks, even if they look good on the outside .... many of mine are I would say original.

Thanks for that Ozzie. The other lesson I just learned is to tie a stopper knot on the end of the jib sheets.

Yes Ian, i am coming coming to grips to using a halyard instead of the furler and a stopper knot is now a must. Luckily the sheaves in the blocks were old and i have several replacement blocks yin the spares bo x I picked up at garage sales but i dont want it happening again.

With the jib downhaul; I lock off the halliard at the lowest shackle position, pull the downhaul and sheet tight, and wrap a sail tie around the bulk of the sail and the pulpit. This is a neat enough stowage for the jib when not in use.

I presume that you are using those "puzzle"hanks because they lay better if you are furling?
If not bin them and use piston hanks - they actually hook through an eyelet on the luff.
Haven't used those puzzle things for 30 years.
As for "stop" knots - they should be on every sheet and halyard except the spinnaker halyard

The puzzle hanks are the original fittings as far as I'm aware and yes they work with the furler well. I have had no issues in eight years but clearly the screws need regular checks There is no way I would give up the furler completely . It is ideal for quite summer days when the family is just gunk holing using sail around the lake. Having a sail on the foredeck is a pain when docking , anchoring, beaching and alighting using the front to beach method. The foredeck is also my preferred fishing casting deck . But on serious sailing days when sailing is the only thing on the menue the halyard method will be used. It is not that hard actually to change over to the halyard if the sail is unfurled and the halyard is rigged ready to clip on. Although It would be a pain singlehanded. Clearly Ian's down haul will be a good addition.

Stop knots are a good idea. With the furler it was not such an issue as once the jib was snugged up and the line cleated off nothing pulled through. I always put additional ties around the furled jib when overnighting or riding out bad weather on the mooring, but as always things can and will go wrong, usually at the worst time.

Thanks for sharing your rather scary experiences with us Ozzie.

You mentioned having a wire halyard in hand with the impending storm nearby. My boat came with wire halyards too, but a friend encouraged me to abandon these and run polyester instead. It works a treat and there's no annoying rattle of metal lines inside the mast when moored.

More importantly, it's one less lightning conductor to hold during a building storm!

When I purchased my boat too, a previous owner had long eschewed the double block tensioning system on the jib/genoa. Instead, I run a continuous line around two winches mounted cabin top on either side. Having crewed on an Ultimate 18 many years ago and being hit in the head by shackles attached to flapping headsails, I prefer to have only single lines attached to those sails, using bowline knots. A lot softer on the head! The continuous line is also good for single handed sailing: wherever you grab it, you know you can pull on either sheet. And no need for stopper knots; though I'd certainly put stopper knots in every loose line elsewhere about the boat.

I agree re your use of the furler: they are fine for lazing about in light conditions, but I found mine to be unreliable under tension. I could also never quite get enough luff tension for proper sail shape when attempting to race hard. These days my furler sits in the shed, and I use brass hanks to attach my headsails straight to the forestay. I also use a haul down line run from the cockpit (as Ian suggests) and loosely tie the downed sail around the lifelines with a short line.

I'm not a fan of accessing the forehatch while sailing; I once saw an RL take on a lot of green stuff and soon sink because the forehatch had been left unlocked for sail changing during a race in a big swell. I guess it's fine though if the water is a lot calmer.

Cheers, Geoff

Have always had wire halyards with rope tails. Now have Spectra rope halyards and am rapt.
Also had a mid rail welded into the pulpit rail so that the risk of the headsail going over the side are minimised too

Yes, I think spectra halyards are the next thing on the refurb list. I assume 6 mm is ok for the investigator?

Early on in my ownership of Spritzig II I tried just rope jib sheet tied through the jib clew , no blocks, just hand tensioned. Worked ok even in heavy wind ...for me, but hard on my wife as you really need to give it some grunt. Blocks are reasonably safe with the furler but you're right Geoff , I would not like to be clubbed with one on the end of a flogging genoa.

Ozzie:

If you are going with spectra, then I think 6mm would be plenty.

I used 10mm braided polyester, largely because it fitted my blocks and existing cleats, and was thick enough to grip with big hands in a hurry. Unlike spectra, this line does stretch a little under extreme pressure, but it's hardly an issue on these boats.

I ran both the mainsail and genoa halyards down the inside of the mast, to then exit through tapered holes I had drilled and then filed smooth about 30mm from the mast base. From there, they go to blocks on the deck, and then back to the cockpit, from where I can raise and lower without having to crawl back up to the mast base. Again, everything set up for single handed sailing.

I can generally haul both tight enough just using brute strength, but the winches and a handle are there if I get really keen.

I take your point re the need for extra hauling assistance though for crew who are not as strong, and again I find the cockpit winches more than ample for this task. I guess it depends on whether you have these installed or not; they would be expensive to retrofit unless you picked up some good SH ones.

Cheers, Geoff