Has anyone installed Lazy Jacks on a Freedom 35 with wishbones and rap around sails? Or are there other ways on wrangling the sails into submission when solo sailing in F6?
You should not need them (even in F6!); the sail should flake naturally between the arms of the wishbone. To hoist, abate, and reef, I always head into the wind up to 10 deg or less. Can´t do the first two with a sail full of wind. With a bit of practice, it becomes a quick maneuver single-handed.
Thanks for the reassurance that this is what is supposed to happen. I will have to work on the holding into wind with the auto pilot or novice crew.
Let me know if you are ever down Plymouth way?
We put a line of grommets as if for reefing points between the clew and the holes for the wishbone harness (five is enough), and then run thin lines from around the wishbone on one side, through the grommet, and then around the other side of the wishbone. These lines are not tight, either between the wishbone arms, or the loops around the wishbone, so they can move fore and aft a little. When the sail is reefed or handed, the sail drops into the wishbone, but the loops stop it falling right through.
We can reef and hand, without having to point up too much, by freeing the clew outhaul and then the sheet until the sail is flapping and streaming downwind; then use the reefing pennant and downhaul to lower the sail. There is usually little friction when all is free, although it was better when we had double ply sails instead of the zipped pocket ones we have now. The zip makes them stiffer in the line of the luff.
There is really no way to fit lazy jacks of the traditional style. They would have to go from the masthead, and they would restrict the raising and lowering of the boom.
You can make out one or two on this picture, I hope.
Gerald
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