Back by popular demand are the practical tips of Franco Pivoli (among the founders of the Caprera Sailing Center, he was an Olympian in Montreal 1976 in the Tornadoes): some little jobs to do on the boat to make it easy and comfortable to cruise. What better time than now, with the season just around the corner and wind and sun beginning to call us back to the water? You asked us to take a closer look at the practical implementation of some tips that struck you in the issue a few months ago, and here you are! The advice of Franco Pivoli, who, we recall, sails the length and breadth of the Mediterranean for at least four months of the year aboard a 1992 Grand Soleil 45, is “geek jobs”: where spending little gets ingenious results. Achievements that facilitate life on board in small crews and streamline maneuvering and consumption. In this first installment, we discuss mainsail and jib…
UNCOMPLICATED MAINSAIL AND JIB
1. A clever system for lazy jacks. Replacing the underside of the lazy jack cords with webbing will provide you with significant advantages: when the mainsail is lowered it rests on a greater surface area and does not shear; also, when reefing, and particularly if you are sailing with the second hand, all the excess fabric remains contained by putting the lazy in force, but you do not break the sail.
2. By mounting simple plastic hooks on the lazysys, only on one side, when the mainsail is lowered you can close it on the other row of lazys, thus eliminating the gerli: in no time the sail is secured. The only gerlo that is used is towards the mast to move the halyard away and thus prevent it from flapping. The hooks mentioned above are those of the rubber bands, threaded through the lazy cords and secured with a waxed sewing thread-a job to be done with the mainsail lowered to find the right position.
3. By adding on the mainsail stud passage two Air blocks from Harken, which are very light and secured with a Spectra loop, reefing becomes much easier and the effort is reduced to one-third. What if you have a desire to decrease the weight of the mainsail? “For the mainsail I made the choice to use Contender’s dyneema fabric, 8.5 ounces for the leech and 7.5 for the luff cut radially to decrease sail weight, I hope it is a wise choice! In the geometry of the mainsail I moved the reefs so that there is a 10% decrease in area for the first hand and 27% decrease for the second hand. The philosophy is that when I put on the second hand I want to have little canvas on shore, since I sail often in Greece with the Meltemi.”
4. A tip also for the jib halyard: “Since I have the jib reel, between resting and working position the halyard moves 20 cm, to eliminate all the tail of the cockpit I cut the halyard. I made a loop at the end of the working part, and one at the non-working part (both in 6 mm scaled spectra) so that I can detach and attach them, so I don’t have top in the cockpit bothering me. To make these rings I used 6 mm scaled spectra (ultra Gottifredi & Maffioli), easy and simple.
