Ok I had an interesting day driveway sailing today. I played with the spinnaker and my 2012 AI. I found that the reason I was having almost no entanglement issues was because of the speed that I furl. If I furl fast, I get a RECOVERABLE entanglement every time. If slow or moderate speed, I never got the entanglement. I tend to furl at a more moderate speed (maybe because it's an older boat and doesn't furl as fast) than Pete. Maybe because I'm weaker that Pete
, I don't know. Bottom line I can make this earlier model AI entangle too if I furl fast. Each time I could just back out of my furl and re-furl a bit slower slower to recover. This would not present a problem if it happened on the water and appears preventable.
Interestingly, the batten is not catching the halyard on the first swing around the mast but rather the second. The mast leech angles towards the halyard-whether there is a
batten top or not. Somehow when we furl slower the leech/main top corner is not protruding enough to engage and catch the halyard.
On the issue of the backstay distorting the mains shape when sailing upwind, Matt appears to be right, if you create slack in the backstay, the main seems unaffected by the stay.
So... it appears that I can solve everything I am experiencing by modifying me rather than the boat.
I understand some felt that this thread was getting a bit negative. But I appreciated every post on it and any in the future. I just wanted to understand what was happening before I went offshore this year. I still love the sail and would make the purchase again, no question. I am getting use to the lines and if you run the spin sheets under the bungees on the hulls sided and then tie them and tuck them behind the set, they remain taunt and out of the way, even without tramps.