Are Lazy Jacks 'Hip' ?

[Catpainzmcspice]

So the sailboat in this picture has me thinking about lazy jacks all over again.

I do a lot of singlehand cruising. So I see the benefits. But I also like to race now and again, and lazy jacks don't seem practical for racing.

My question is this... in the eyes of my boating peers, will I lose respect if I rig a lazy jack system?

[James S]

Form definitely follows function when it comes to lazy jacks.
Some can be rigged so you can pull them back to the mast when not needed.

[foamcore]

I had a lazy bag on my last boat and it was wonderful! I didn't care about what others felt. I'll be putting one on the new boat as well.

[jackdale]

I have crewed on race boats with lazy jacks - one that can be stowed at the mast or on the ram's horn's. No disrespect.

In mast furling is entirely different.

[Catpainzmcspice]

Do you have problems catching the battons while raising the main? That's my main practical concern on top of my concern of being perceived differently.

[Catpainzmcspice]

Oh, and this all stems from me asking my sailboat buddy if I should invest in lazy jacks and his reply was "yes, and you should also invest in gunnel mounted anti-Dolphin torpedoes. "

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by Catpainzmcspice

Do you have problems catching the battons while raising the main? That's my main practical concern on top of my concern of being perceived differently.

The lazy jacks are used when lowering the main. After it is down, stow the lazy jacks at the mast; that prevents batten issues.

[thinwater]

Arn't you (we?) too old to care?

If you pull the jacks out of the way properly they don't affect airflow. You'll may want to move them anyway, to reduce chafe. Also, if they pull forwards easily, you can't catch them on battens. Many sailors leave them rigged in possition ONLY when lowering and covering.

[Catpainzmcspice]

Ah. I didn't realize they are retractable. Cool!

[roverhi]

I single hand mostly. The lazy jacks are invaluable for handling the main. I just drop the sail and motor into the slip. No worry about the sail clogging up the cockpit and blocking my view when I don't have the time to mess with it. Take care of flaking the sail down when I have the time and place, usually in the slip.

I don't sail with the lazy jacks deployed. They spend most of their time forward on the mast. I just bring them forward and hook them around their cleat. Deploy them when I'm thinking about dropping the main. Don't like them flopping against the sail when the sail is up. They also hook the first batten or two unless the sail is raised heading dead into the wind. Once the sail is about halfway up, they aren't an issue in hoisting the main.

As far as being hip, who gives a s***. I want functional, if it's got a use, it's cool.

I used the design on the yellow graph paper in this link: Lazy Jacks
Used brass rings instead of blocks except for the cheek blocks on the mast. Use small padeyes under the boom to hold the lines in place. Biggest expense was 1/2" line for the Jack's.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by Catpainzmcspice

Ah. I didn't realize they are retractable. Cool!

Some are. Avoid the stay pack systems that have the lazy jacks integrated with the sail cover. Those can foul battens.

[foamcore]

Ya Jack, I had lazy jack and sail covers on my old boat and had no trouble with fouling. I guess it depends on the intsallation.

[Catpainzmcspice]

Roverhi, well said. That's good advice! Brass rings probably add ascetic value as well. I like that idea!

[Capt.Don]

I am planning on reworking my lazyjack system. My lazyjack lines are not long enough to bring forward to the mast when raising the main and sailing. As a result, (1) the battens always get caught in the lazyjacks when raising the main, (2) they blocks do bang against and chafe the main when sailing.

When dropping the main, I'm finding that the battens drop faster then the luff and tend to twist out of the basket made by the lazyjacks. Towards this issue, I've cleaned and lubricated the track and this seems to help.

What I am going to do is double the length of line, creating port and starboard lazyjacks that I can bring forward to the mast when raising main and sailing. The odd thing is it looks like my lazyjack lines are different size lines spliced together. It appears that I have 1/4" line running from the boom to the block, which then reduces to 3/16" line running towards the aft end of boom, under boom and back up to the other side. I'm not 100% sure of this, as I can't really tell, but the lines sure look different size. I'll check when I replace the port side.

In the next few weeks, I will add port side line for the lazyjack, thus doubling the stbd side line. Temporarily I'll use a sailtie to secure to the mast and see how that works. If that works well, I'll make a more permanent solution (hook, port cleat,....).

I want the lazyjack system to work; at this point I'm finding it to be difficult to raise the main and more work than simply flaking the sail on the boom. I'm hoping that with the longer lines, tied to the mast, and proper setup, my problems will be resolved. I do see the benefit when short-handed.

[Sabbatical II]

Originally Posted by Catpainzmcspice

My question is this... in the eyes of my boating peers, will I lose respect if I rig a lazy jack system?

I had lazy jacks on my last boat (29' Compass) and am fitting them to my new build (42' semi-custom) because I love them for single handing and when I have a crew. Many things on my boat are very uncool these days on a 40'+ boat. No watermaker. No generator. No inverter. No AC power. No air conditioning. Only one head. Top down fridge. No electric winches. Too much lead in the keel. Laughably big anchor. But who cares?

I love it!

Greg