Adjustable tack pendant

[Laskadog]

Hi all,

I just added a staysail to my sloop. Unfortunately tracks for the sheet blocks are not feasible. I plan to make minor adjustments by adjusting the height of the staysail. Are there any practical ways of doing this other than having multiple length pendants? Is there a way to make an adjustable pendant?

Thanks.

[SailingHarmonie]

Of course it CAN be done...

A low stretch line to the tack of the sail instead of the fixed tack attachment, and a couple turning blocks to lead it to a winch, and presto! you have an adjustable height tack on your sail.

Of course, the best place for the adjustment to occur is near the staysail halyard winch, since they always have to adjust together. Maybe a stopper will let you share the winch. You might get by without the winch, you'll have to try it and see if you can remotely manually downhaul the sail in a gale after easing the halyard.

It seems this kind of issue really should have been designed BEFORE you installed the staysail. I see a lot of owner added staysails, and not more than 1 out of 5 is done properly from a structural standpoint and many don't actually sail all that well.

[s/v Jedi]

I think you don’t need to have this adjustable while sailing, right? If so, you can do this by starting with a “whoopie sling” from Amsteel Blue in 6mm diameter or so.

Once you have figured out the exact length you want it, you can make a fixed pendant from the same Amsteel so you get rid of the loose end used for adjustment.

Remember that a whoopie sling can be tightened while under pressure, but not loosened. You need to adjust the halyard anyway but will need to loosen it first to adjust the whoopie sling to a longer size.

Also, when not under tension, it can easily change size so when you lower the staysail, you will loose the “setting”.

(Amsteel Blue is SK78 Dyneema with UV coating)

[Laskadog]

Thanks Jedi, I’ll look into your solution. And you are correct I’m only going to adjust the pendant before I hoist, so no need to adjust it while sailing. I should have specified this. And please have no fear the design and installation is VERY well planned out. I had multiple exchanges with a rigger, the sailmaker and even the naval architect who designed the boat. Then I went overkill

[Cheechako]

I had more issues with the sheeting end than the tack on my staysail. Both boats had tracks, but they were too close to boat centerline much of the time... great for windward work, but useless for a reach or downwind.
Most of the time I ended up using a Barber Hauler type arrangement to get the clew positioned inboard/outboard and fore/aft for the particular point of sail. This allowed me to adjust the slot between the staysail and the jib for great shape regardless of point of sail.

If you are trying to figure a length for the tack pendent, a short length of chain would work well temporarily I suppose.

Years ago I had a staysail my sailmaker made with a wire luff and two tack points, but that was a bit messy.

[s/v Jedi]

Here is the whoopie sling on AnimatedKnots: https://www.animatedknots.com/whoopie-sling-knot

[tenchiki]

I made pennants for my headsails out of multiple wraps of light stuff (1/8" dacron is plenty big enough for most boats, just more wraps) between the tack cringle and a shackle. Originally I planned it to only be while I figured out the optimum length for a pennant, however ended up just keeping it. One of the sails ended up with too short for a traditional pennant anyway.



When sizing for strength, the tack has much lower loading than either the head or the clew. Under sail, the downward load on the clew due to the sheet reduces the load on the tack pennant while increasing the load on the halyard at the head. On my boat, the highest load on the tack pennant comes from the initial tensioning of the halyard (minus the weight of the sail).