New Sails

We got to West Mersea a little after 10am on Saturday morning. Robinetta was still on the mooring in the Strood where she was left on Thursday. This made it a nice easy row out from the pontoon in Worm.

Alison had wanted to paint the bulwarks but I vetoed that, “You’re not getting paint on the new mainsail!”. I put a pair of hose clips round the gaff to act as temporary hooks for the span. I hooked the throat up as she used to be and raised the gaff a little. We got the mainsail draped over the boom and pondered how to attach it.

The hoops were still around the mast, but one less than of old – I removed a rotten one last season. The old gaff lacing was obviously going to be too short, and anyway was currently acting as the bob-stay tensioner. I found the old boom lacing and we had a nice new length of soft buff three-strand Mark had put in with the sail.

Options included using lacing instead of hoops and ro’bands or lacing for the gaff. Tom Cunliffe swears by ro’bands in Hand Reef and Steer. Sailing on Prospero last weekend had convinced me of the benefits of a loose footed mainsail and I wondered if this was possible on Robinetta but decided that the round-the-boom roller reefing dictated a laced on foot. Everyone says a roller reefed main is an abomination – almost as bad as in-mast reefing. But it’s such a useful feature, and in its original condition, that I’m loath to change it.

I knew I wouldn’t get things right first time and wanted to see the sail in situ. I used the new rope to lace the head to the gaff and the old braid to lace the foot to the boom.  I tied the hoops to the luff starting at the throat, mostly to get them out of the way. We pulled the sail up. It was awful. The sail needed to be much nearer the mast at both the foot and the peak.

The strangest thing was that only one luff cringle didn’t have a hoop! I started wondering if the luff was short. We measured it and it isn’t. The sail must be fewer cringles than in the old one.

As previously, the bottom cringle has to be left untied for reefing. I think I might make a plastic hoop with a quick release mechanism.

Bringing the foot forwards was reasonably easy. The second hoop up is still a little tight but OK. Lowering the sail is easier if the boom is topped up, reducing the luff tension. It proved impossible to understand the throat geometry without having the throat lowered to eye level but the peak at working angle. I judged the correct angle by levelling the sail numbers. We really are peaked up high now, but not “gunter high”. The whole throat attachment needed to be re-thought. I’ve had this in mind all winter, but knew I wouldn’t get it right except on the boat.