Replacing wire mainsail halyard with line

[NoTies]

Whimsical, love your rationale, I must use it.
GMac, I suspected irony in Shellback's post but then I realised irony is a form of humour peculiar to any country from the Commonwealth ;-)
(Note the "u" in humour)

[shellback]

Originally Posted by GMac

Pete, keep an eye on that Shellback character will you. He looks to be walking a fine line as well

Some Foster's will solve everything!
G'day

[shellback]

Originally Posted by pwederell

Whimsical, love your rationale, I must use it.
GMac, I suspected irony in Shellback's post but then I realised irony is a form of humour peculiar to any country from the Commonwealth ;-)
(Note the "u" in humour)

pwederell: it's all good....irony aside. Besides, it's the coffee in the morning that fuels the fun! Hope all is going well there in NZ!

[hellosailor]

Fosters:
OMG: They even tin the beer! <G>

If you can't have fun, you might as well be motor boating.

[rebel heart]

Interesting thread. I was all set to get rid of my all wire mainsail halyard and replace it with rope, because of the "chin busting" experience you can have with a wire winch. I'm guessing you guys all know what I mean.. releasing the brake with one hand, and praying to God that when you do, you have sufficient grip on the winch handle so that it doesn't fly free and break your face.

Can someone give me some helpful advice as to how to minimize that risk, without switching out to line?

[GMac]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Fosters:
OMG: They even tin the beer! <G>

If you can't have fun, you might as well be motor boating.

A truer word has not been spoken.

Fosters, lived on the stuff for 9 months in Kiribati. My eye sight is almost back now

Can someone give me some helpful advice as to how to minimize that risk, without switching out to line?

One many have struggled with and have yet to find an answer to. All I can suggest is entering the Around Alone Race, that way you only have to do it once every 27000 miles

Come on all - man with problem here. Suggestions welcome.

[Alan Wheeler]

Come on all - man with problem here. Suggestions welcome.

It's because there ain't no solution. Changing over to line is the only answer.

[hellosailor]

" releasing the brake with one hand, and praying to God that when you do, you have sufficient grip on "
I'm afraid that just falls under "proper line handling". No matter what anyone tells you on any boat, you need to be able to size up the load on a line, using nothing but your eyes and fingertips, and then decide how to safely take up the load or release it. With cordage, I'm usually cheating by wearing Kevlar gloves. Made the mistake once of listening to a skipper who said "Nah, you don't need gloves, just release that line" and damned burnt my palms on it. Nuh-uh, if I don't like the look of it, I don't release a line. Or winch.

With wire it is harder, but with cordage there are ways to throw another line into a taut line, to take the strain off it. Great for wraps on loaded winches.

[S/V Elusive]

Nothing like a rolling hitch to unwrap a poorly released jib sheet.

[rebel heart]

If that's the case then, that wire winches really are less safe to operate than line (and I do believe they are), then that advice should go hand in hand with their benefits. In a blow, if you have two people onboard, chances are one of them is better than the other, and if you're reefing, it can get tricky real fast to make sure you have a qualified person securing the leech, and a qualified person on the halyard.

[KJThomas]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Fosters:
OMG: They even tin the beer! <G>

If you can't have fun, you might as well be motor boating.

I was going to be rude about Fosters, but after some thought I decided to shut up. We have Lion red and Spieghts to be ashamed of..

And one of the best micro brews I ever sampled was in Fremantle