Halyards that you can use in the water?

I would like to be able to lower my sails while on the water for reasons like reefing, being towed, drifting and relaxing, fixing a batten, etc.

My boat is a '75 with the clip at the mast head. As far as I can tell it would almost be imposible to deal with on the water.

Is there a system that would make it possible to lower the main while in the water?

I have repositioned the clip ( and the coresponding swage) down near the boom gooseneck + also have a small block and tackle to take care of the load (that I just hook in the end of the wire halyard ) Works fine so far. I use the same block pully system to tention up the jib halyard, if rigging on the water.

Have you actually tried lowering your main on the water? I believe I have exactly the same mast construction ('81 hobie 16) and I'm able to hoist and lower the main sail on the water. I just stand near the front crossbar and hook / unhook the hailyard from there.

I've done it many times without problem. You just have to walk out on the hull, grab onto the forestay for balance, and unhook the ball/hook from there.

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Warm regards,

Jim

You don't even need to walk out on the hulls. At least on the 14, it can be done from the mast base.

Sam

On the 14, I've even re-stepped my mast on the water - twice.

Was up and running by the time the next race started in both cases.

Fortunately, there aren't any pictures.

No pictures = it didn't really happen.

Thats called "livin' on the edge". And if you ain't livin' on the edge, your wasting space!:lol:

Sam

If you just snap it like a whip it will pop right out. I read about doing this last summer and was telling my son that it would never work while I tried it just for kicks and it popped right out. Just get a bit of slack in the halyard and give it a good whip! Works like a charm.

That trick depends on how tight your halyard is. I can take my sail down on the water single handed (H14) but it requires some yanking.

Sam

I've found that you can get the main down easily with two people without going out on the hulls. Just have one person rotate the mast as far as it can go one way. Then the other person lays on the tramp by the front crossbar and it is easy to whip the swage out of the clip. Works for me everytime!