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My yacht has a Lazy Jack and Stack Pack system.
I am finding that when raising the main in gusty conditions the sail battens often get caught up in the Lazy Jack lines. I do obviously head into wind, but with the wind gusting around, the sail still flaps around enough to get the battens snagged. Do other users ease off the Lazy Jack lines before raising the main? and do they then re-tighten them again for sailing. All my lines are led back to the cockpit so easing the LJ lines would necessitate someone going forward to the mast.Most people probably don’t bother easing off their lazyjacks and just watch the main as it goes up to time the pull on the halyard so that the battens pass the lj line without it snagging. It does help to have the boom sheeted in as tight as possible to stop it moving around then the flapping of the main is generally much less and most times doesn’t catch on the lazyjacks.
If you loosen off the lazyjack before hoisting, the main could or probably will flop off the boom so it is best to keep the lines tight when hoisting.
If I’m doing a bit of racing or a distance cruise I will loosen off the lazyjacks once the main is up and tie them back at the mast so that optimal sail shape is maintained. I will also tie the stackpack tight to the boom so that I can use the slot on the loose footed main for dropping the spinnaker if needed.
Regards
Rick.Thanks for that Rick. What you say makes sense and I expect I just need a bit more practice. I didn’t think it should be necessary to go to the mast to ease the lines. Watching the main as you raise it and timing each pull to coincide with the batten position relevant to the lines.
Because of the position of our primary winch (under the spray hood) we tend to use a bit of a call from the helm if and when a batten looks like getting caught in the lazy jacks when raising the main….lots to be said for a little teamwork.
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