Hoisting Main with Lazyjacks in Place

[Sandydog]

My main when going up almost always catches the battens in the lazyjacks. Anyone have any advice to mitigate?

[smith8273]

I usually hoist with my lazyjacks up.

I'm at the mast, my main has two battens. What I do is shake, rattle and roll. I shake the main that is, and/or push on the boom, until the two battens clear.

[Triumphant]

I hoist the main which the lazy jacks stowed vertically against the mast and then set them up once the main is up at my leisure

[roverhi]

Stowing the lazy jacks is easy on my boat so they are only deployed when I'm dropping the sail. Tried a couple of times to hoist the main with the LJ's deployed and gave up. Way easier to tuck the LJ's under the mast cleat. If your LJ's aren't set up to stow forward agains the mast might want to figure out how to modify them so they can be stowed easily.

[John_Trusty]

No prob - I know which way the wind's blowing and point the boat there.

[Mirage35]

I hoist the main with the lazy jacks up. If they're loosened off (adjustment at the boom) and I'm well pointed into the wind, no problem. If I get careless and let the wind catch the main, a batten catches, I lower a bit, and I try again.

[Vasco]

A simple solution is to use a short length of shock cord and tie the lazy jacks to the shroud at the tips of the spreaders. When you ease the lazy jacks the shock cord will pull the lazy jacks towards the spreaders and open a big gap in them.

[sagablu]

Originally Posted by Vasco

A simple solution is to use a short length of shock cord and tie the lazy jacks to the shroud at the tips of the spreaders. When you ease the lazy jacks the shock cord will pull the lazy jacks towards the spreaders and open a big gap in them.

Brilliant!

[JPA Cate]

Another strategy to try, first, mark the lazy jack halyard, so you know where to re-cleat it, then lower the leeward lazy jacks, just for the raising of the main, then re-set the lazy jacks.

On our boat, the lazy jacks are secured way out the first set of spreaders, so the "mouth" is wide, rather than at the mast, where the "mouth" is narrow.

Ann

[Sandydog]

Wow, many great ideas to try. Thanks much!

[charliehows]

yeah, pretty much part of the procedure for hoisting my main is to reach up and flick the battens past the lazyjack. Fixing it is a bit like the argument against computerising your houses wiring system - how hard is it to get off yer arse and turn the bloody light on?

[Matt Johnson]

I have my wife head a little to starboard so if the main's batten were to bind, it would do so on the starboards lazy jack only. I then I pull back the lazyjack to the gooseneck on that side only (it's the side my halyard winch is on) and hoist the main.

Matt

[Karanga]

Interesting that so many other people have the same issue as I do. My solution is to lower the LJ on the side catching the battens, then reset them once the main is up. A slight hassle and I was sure there must be a ready-made clip-on cover to smooth the batten end to prevent it catching. I was going to start researching, but since nobody has mentioned them, presumably they don't exist (?)

[fxykty]

The top 4 of our 6 battens can get caught by the lazy jacks and the sail and boom are too big to move by hand in any sort of breeze. We’re lazy, so adjusting the lazy jacks for each hoist is a non starter.

To hoist the main, we turn into the wind and ease the main sheet so the boom can swing a few metres each way. Then we hoist the main, with a pause at each batten as it comes near a lazy jack line to make sure it can clear the line, then hoist quickly past that point until the next batten.

Most of the time the slight swings back and forth and strategic pauses in hoisting are enough to have a smooth hoist. Occasionally the devil herself takes control of the boom and it’s a frustrating exercise of up and down and sometimes even to loosening one lazy jack.

[FlyingScot]

One of us is deployed to the opposite side of the boat. We point into the wind and proceed with caution. To date we haven't done anything with the Lazy Jacks while raising the main. We typically use the power winch in slow mode, but hit the 'fast' button to sneak quickly by the catch points.