Topping lift question

[conachair]

Originally Posted by sailr69

there is no safe way of reefing the sail with the boom in the gallows notch, maybe this can be done with no air and at the dock but at sea? cripes, the wind is blowing the sail all around, lifting out of the gallows and beating the crap out of it. not to mention the poor fellow who is trying to reef the sail with all the banging and swinging around going on.

A little tension on the mainsheet keeps it rock solid.

Though single handed I usually use the topping lift for reefing and quite often don't even bother going head to wind. If going so far as to tidy up the bunt then boom in the gallows makes it solid.

Topping lift cleats off to the back stay.

[Andrew Troup]

I agree with Nigel1

Spare main halyard trumps any amount of convenience, for me.

[nigel1]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

Usually with the boom hanging from the topping lift. I either head up a little or ease off a bit, support the boom with the topping lift and lower the sail to reef it. I use a single line reef run to the mast.

Sent from my LG-P769 using Tapatalk

Pretty much the same here.
Have lazy jacks to make it easier.
Sail close hauled, then drop the traveller, ease sheet so sail fully luffs, release the kicker, snug up the topping lift, then do the reefing bit.
As lines all led aft (except topping lift) it works out pretty well, and this is single handing. Mind you, took me a few attempts to get it all together

I found that being able to lift the boom slightly on the topping lift makes it a lot easier for the main to drop.

[Autumns Wind]

I will agree with you RoverHi, my current boat has dema line for both the running back stay and topping lift and man does it sing. We have to shock cord the lines.


Thanks for all the input. My current boat is rigged so you can adjust the topping lift from the mast winch. Since my new boat has a 14' boom, I see no reason not to do the same. It seems like preference more then any thing. Thanks again...

[Andrew Troup]

Here's a great animation showing why topping lifts sing:

Vortices shed alternately from each side of the lift, and the lift is deflected to the opposite side by each shedding event.

The lift 'sings' when the shedding frequency is a multiple of its resonant frequency (the 'fundamental', as it would be called in acoustics or musical theory)

This means a whole number of curves fit into the length of the lift
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like this

or this:
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(disregard the dots, necessary to defeat a formatting problem)