Lazy Jacks

[NewSailor]

I'm a new sailor and single hand my CD 25 quite often. The previous owner equipped the boat with Lazy Jacks. Since I single hand I have difficulty keeping the boat heading into the wind while raising and lowering the main, and end up with battens tangled up in the lazy jacks all the time. I'm thinking of getting rid of the lazy jacks but would like the braintrusts opinion first. What would you advise? I sail on the Chesapeake Bay.

[mahalocd36]

They are handy for lowering the main, especially by yourself.
Some lazyjacks are retractable - you can loosen/uncleat one of them (usually the one closest to the mast) and pull them all forward/out of the way. Then, raise the sail, and sometime before you uncleat the halyard to drop the main, you put the lazyjacks back.

If that sounds like too much of a pain, get rid of them

The other option that works well, maybe when it's time for a new sail, is the 'dutchman' system which has the lines through the sail. We sailed on an Island packet with this and it worked pretty well.
(They can add this to existing sails as well).

Our battens used to get stuck in our lazyjacks sometimes but on our new mainsail the battens don't protrude aft at all - they are totally enclosed in a pocket in the sail, and we don't seem to have that problem anymore.

[Jim Davis]

I have lazy jacks, and have for all of my boats. They can be a god send for lowering the sails. As has bee stated, lower them before raising the sail. My procedure is to lower them after securing the sail and before putting the sail covers on. After raising the sail I raise the lazy jacks. They are also nice when reefing. The only time they are a real PITA is dropping the sail in a no wind situation.

[Dave Brandt]

They can be a pain at times, but I would not be without them. This year on Prairie I added bungee cords from the spreaders to the lazy jacks. When the lazy jacks are loose, the bungees pull the cables open, making it easier to raise the main. I am also thinking about routing the control cord back to the cockpit. One last thing, since I installed a tiller pilot it has made single handing much more enjoyable!

Dave

[boom2it]

I had lazy jacks installed this season, I grew tired of a cockpit full of sail when lowering. When raising the main put a foot or two of swing/slack in the main sheet rather then locked down with no swing, this is quite helpful in keeping the battens from getting caught when hoisting. Lashing down the tiller while slowly motoring into the wind should keep you pointed long enough to get the main set, just make sure you are clear of anyone and no one is bearing down on you during this procedure .

[KDreese]

Funny I single hand a CD25 and actually want to ADD lazy jacks to mine... if you happen to remove yours... I would buy them from yah.

If you decide not to use them I think you will find that you get a cabin top worth of sail while you are lowering the main... kind of pain... I end up securing the mainsail to the boom with sail ties so it does fly up when motoring to the mooring.

Also, when I raise or lower the sail I use a bungie cord to secure the tiller to the boom... this way when I point the boat into the wind it typically stays there and it helps a ton to get the sails up or down (my foresail is a hank on sail).

[rtbates]

The vessel need not point into the wind just the main. If you release your main sheet it'll allow the boom to swing downwind and thus point the mainsail into the wind. As others have said putting lots of slack in the lazy jacks makes rasing the main much easier. I used to always pull my LJ to the mast till I learned to release the mainsheet.

Another method I use to rasie the main in heavy air is to pull a very small amount of headsail out first(works for reefing/firling headsails) and heave to. I then release the mainsheet and push the boom to the side, downwind and hoist away. Heaving to also works great for dropping the main in really heavy air. Just remember to not use much headsail or you'll fall way off. And as soon as the main comes down you WILL fall way off as you now only have headsail up. I find it's much easier than leaving the main till the last and then trying to keep head to wind. CD love to blow the bow off the wind unless you keep headway on and when single handing that's a recipe for disaster. Fall over board while motoring into the wind on the autopilot and you're done for.

[Kemah]

I put on lazy jacks this summer after a year of research on sail handling systems. I ended up going with Jiffy Jax with the drawback kit. The system has port and starboard "halyards" and port and starboard hooks on bungee cord near the gooseneck for retracting. I only deploy the just before lowering the main, then retract them at the mooring after putting on the sail ties and before putting on the sail cover. They stay retracted until after the next sail, when the main comes down again. (Of course, you could deploy them just after raising the main as another way to avoid the batten-catching problem.) They're custom made for each boat. I chose the stainless steel thimbles instead of rings, and found that the lines run freely with them. Spent a great deal of time consulting with the Jiffy Jax owner--found him easy to work with and conscientious. My spreaders are low, so I went with mast-mounted blocks. Even if my spreaders were higher, I think I would have gone with mast-mounted blocks, since that way the halyards are not obtrusive when sailing. (Spreader mounting would probably be better if not planning to retract or not getting the drawback kit, to reduce batten-catching.) Owner suggested I fasten blocks about 1 foot below the maximum height shown on the customized insructions. When deploying, I make the jacks fairly tight, but still with a little play, so the main doesn't catch on the way down. I had been worried about the thimbles or halyards banging or snapping on the mast when retracted, but with the halyards tight, I've had no noise. I put the halyard cleats in a line straight under the blocks (which are forward of the center line), not aft as the owner suggested to me. My boom is relatively "round" so after talking with the owner, I decided to mount the boom eyestraps horizontally, not vertically (fairly low on the boom). For my boom, I got a three-leg system. I used the supplied pop rivets, not screws, except for the halyard cleats (screws supplied for these). In retrospect, I might have gotten the option to deploy from the cockpit, although that would be for the future if I decide to run other lines to the cockpit. I'm very satisfied with the system.