2:1 reduction genoa haliard

[moreton99]

Hi

Dropped the Genoa which has a block on it the other day so i could lift the proddder. When I hauled it up again very easy at first, about three quarters the way up the line stated twisting and then jammed because of the twist. It has a nice swivel and I would have hoped the block would twist as necessary

I ended going up the mast and had to untwist it at the block and pull it down holding that block so it stayed untwisted.


I am a long time boater but new to sailing (apart from kite surfing) so please forgive my use of the wrong terms for the gear.

I can't think how you prevent this happening. Then I wondered why you need a reduction to lift this sail at all. I'm a big believer in keeping it simple.

Appreciate if you can you educate me.

[cal40john]

Did you coil the halyard? When you do a traditional coil on braided line when you pull it out it wants to kink because you had to twist it to coil it.

Flake the line or bunny ears coil it.

I have an 11:1 purchase on my mainsheet on my Hobie 20. Once the twists go into the blocks it rotates the blocks (on universals) so all the lines bind on each other. Making sure there are no twists in the line before hand means everything works fine.

[Tornadosailing]

My 48 foot cat is 1:1 on the Genoa halyard. Not sure why you need 2:1 on your boat.

[JohnT]

I have sailed cats from 37' to 62' and never heard of a 2:1 halyard on a Genoa halyard. Something definitely wrong with that! If it is on a furler, it would not work properly as the distance between the top swivel of the furler and the lead into the mast would be wrong to let it operate properly. Are you sure somebody has not tried to repurpose the spinnaker halyard?

[Bean Counter]

You might be using the code zero halyard, these sometimes have 2:1

[moreton99]

It's on a endless fuller so probably could be the spinnaker halyard. Hangs off the prodder.

I have to bring in the prodder to go into my berth so would prefer it simple. Any reason not to go direct? Apart from the exciting ride up the mast 😀

[JohnT]

Ah, that is not the Genoa - the Genoa on an Oram 39 is on a foil attached to the cross-beam. I think, as Bean Counter noted, you are talking about a code zero being flown off a sprit or prodder, as you call it. The halyard is most likely twisting due to you coiling it - each time you coil it in a standard loop, you introduce one twist in the line per loop. You need to coil it in a figure of eight coil to prevent inducing twists into the line. The other way to solve the problem is to learn to reverse your boat into your berth if a finger berth, then you do not have to drop the sail.

[JohnT]

Watch this video to coil a line without introducing twist into it.
https://youtu.be/2333Ff8GJDw

[moreton99]

Thanks John,

The video was very helpful. So how do I get the twist out of it now I have put it in? I'm guessing it will just twist up again when I haul it up.

Have to pull the spirit/prodder in as it makes me too big for the 12 m berth.

[JohnT]

Just straighten it by hand by untwisting it and hopefully it will come right. Others may have an easy suggestion. Often folk induce a twist into the 2:1 main halyard of a catamaran by coiling the line incorrectly and it then forms a "memory" which is difficult to remove.

[mikereed100]

The 2:1 purchase is there not so much to make it easy to haul up, but rather to prevent the head of the sail from twisting as you furl with the continuous line furler.

Once you get the halyard back a good way to get the twist out is to just trail it behind the boat for a few moments. In the future, when you raise the code 0 just flake the tail rather than coil it. This will prevent the line from twisting.

[FabioC]

As others have noted, that is probably a Code 0 or Spinnaker halyard. 2:1 purchase does not make sense for a genoa (IMO it does not make sense for a Code 0 or Spinnaker either, but that is certainly debatable..).

The twist however was likely due to having a fixed snap shackle on the halyard, rather than a conventional one with the swivel.

This is actually an interesting dilemma: with a furling Code 0, if you have the shackle with the swivel, the Code 0 is likely to become undone (not much, but enough to be a real pain) once furled.

If you change to the fixed shackle, the Code 0 does not unfurl on its own, but then if you use that halyard for the spinnaker, since the shackle does not swivel, the halyard is likely to twist and get stuck somewhere.

Not sure there is a solution to achieve both... Any thoughts?