Main Halyard

How can I rig our main halyard to give 2:1 purchase without having to tie a loop in the halyard? Trying undo a loop to lower the gaff right down when its cold and wet is a pain. We have a jammer on the mast not a cleat.

Any suggestions please.

Tom

This will be hard to explain.

On your main halyard where you would normally tie a loop, you can tie a granny knot, but instead of taking the end right the way through, just take a loop through.

This means you have a loop, but if you put tension on the rope it just pulls out.

Now, with the end of rope you have left, go round your cleat, back up to the loop and then back to the cleat. This works as a great 2:1 purchase, and when you take it out of the cleat, it just pulls out rather than having to be untied.

Richard Telford (Jonny's Dad) should claim all credit for this great system.

Rob
SW Zone Squad Coach

If you tie loop low down you may find that you can untie gaff at the gaff band and leave the halyard with hard eye (metal thimble) all season.Many sailors use this method and it really works well. You need to raise the gaff and mark the line just above the cleat.Halyard goes from mast sheeve thru cleat,back thru eye then again thru cleat to lock.If you have a jammer pass line thru gap and back to eye without jam or lock same as cleat.Again gaff will untie at band.

G. McGILL.

Thanks Rob and Gerry. My dad and I are going to try these ideas out over the weekend.

On the attachment of the main halyard to the gaff we've noticed on Ned McNulty's boat and others that the halyard is attached further up the gaff clear of the mast. The idea seems to be that you avoid having to get any shackle or stopper knot at the gaff band to fit snug into the slot for the sheeve. My dad likes this but I think it could put too great a strain on the thinner weaker part of the gaff.

Thanks again

Tom <img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

Hi Tom - Ned's dad here. Our arrangement is not quite as you state. First, it is important that the halyard comes from the lower side of the gaffband straight into the mast sheave. We have put monil wire around the gaffband to avoid chafe and then pased a loop of the halyard through the gaffband from the lower side; then pass the short end of the loop over the gaffband and through the loop and draw taut with the long end. Make sure you have a small knot in the end. This makes a very neat attachment that can be easily undone and fits the sheave very well. Now, to make the purchase we have borrowed an idea from Matt Burge which is to fit a simple tackle using a clam cleat that can be clapped on to the halyard when it is fully up to provide the extra purchase. The tackle is made up as follows:- Take about 2 feet of 3mm non-stretch line and tie one end to a eye-ring at the front foot of the mast; then take a clam cleat with a small pulley at the lower end; pass the above line through the pulley and then to a jam cleat at the side of the mast about 6" above the deck. To use this as a purchase haul up the gaff in the ususal way and when it is right home clap the clam cleat on to the halyard fall (the bit in your hand) and then bear down on the line that passes around the pulley until it is bar taut and jamb it off. It is very powerful and works a treat and is a doddle to undo and overcomes the problems of knots not being un-doable and gaffs that don't drop all the way. Apart from Matt and Ned I've not seen this system used on any other Mirrors and it should work well for you too. Hope this helps and if you need to discuss it give Ned a shout - we're in the 'phone book.

<img src=icon_smile_evil.gif border=0 align=middle>

Tom. I looked at many ways. I now have no problems with the system I use (at this time).At the Gaff I use a little plastic stopper ball. The halyard passes thru and a simple overhand does the job,the plastic ball sits snug inside the mast sheeve rebate and the gaff is always tight against the mast. However,what works one day, may not the next, and you throw away all written text. What works on one boat,never failing, fails on another, such is sailing!(GM 2202)

G. McGILL.

Not wishing to blow my own trumpet, but....

I agree with Ned's dad about the best system. That's because I claim to have thought it up !! I'm a little disappointed <img src=icon_smile_sad.gif border=0 align=middle> that Ned's dad does not remember seeing it on my boats "Blyskawica" and "Bold Forester" as we met often enough on the circuit when I lived in Poole. I was using it on "Blyskawica" at the Southern Areas at Shoreham in 1998 and have photos to prove it <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle> !! Where did you think Burge got the idea from <img src=icon_smile_question.gif border=0 align=middle>

It's great as there is very little friction (unlike systems using loops of rope) and because the clamcleat clamps onto the halyard at a different point each time, the wear is spread over about 150mm, or so, of halyard, so they last longer. Given the load, this is one place where it is worth paying extra for a ball bearing block (just a small one will do).

I'm currently using those "open" clamcleats (like people use for reaching hooks on the spinnaker) as you can just clip the halyard in. One slight snag is that the jib sheets might catch on the clamcleat. You could try a closed clamcleat, but you would then have the halyard threaded through the cleat on the "tightener" all the time.

Getting the haylard really tight results in more wear at the gaff band. My solution to this problem is to put a hard eye into the end of the halyard (I use Spectra or Kevlar for halyards). You can get a hard eye with two rounded ends (its a sort of egg shape). They sell them in Bob's Boats in Poole so good boat shops should have them. Form the loop around this and then sew it in using a STRONG THREAD (e.g. Marlow whipping twine no 2) over a long distance (50mm or so). To get the eye to more freely on the gaff band you need to reduce the size of the band just where the the halyard attatches. Looking at the band from the side, cut off the two corners at 45 degrees, leaving a central strap of metal. Don't cut off too much. The eye should be able to move up and down and from side to side. I haven't ever had this system break. Have a look at my boats (I'll be at the Nationals) or look at the gaff I made which Lucy Macgregor is using. It's the one with the sexy gaff jaws <img src=icon_smile_approve.gif border=0 align=middle>.

Yes I know my Dad is a genius

No one is allowed to copy it <img src=icon_smile_evil.gif border=0 align=middle>

Only joking

Jonny

I'm afraid I'm having trouble visualizing these ways of handling the halyard.
Are there any pictures that I could look at?
Sorry but it's been a cold 5 months since I last rigged C Kat for sailing
Max

Mirror Sailor from the Prairies