I'm home with covid for a few days. Too bad because the afternoon sailing weather is perfect. I'm 73 and have heart issues but I'm optimistic that I'll make a full recovery. I want to take this opportunity to address an issue that's been bugging me for a while.
I bought a new jib in 2018 and I noticed the foot flutters when close hauled. It really bothered me. So, I took two 5-inch pieces of small batten material and put them on the foot at a 45-degree angle with 2-inch-wide sail repair tape. It fixed the problem but now after 5 years the battens are poking through the sail tape, and it has to be redone. It's a sticky mess. Even though it works, I'm an anal-retentive knit picker and I didn't get them quite parallel, it looked kind of hack and has annoyed me for years that I didn't do a better job. I'm going out probably later next week (if I'm well) and use the bottom hole on the clew plate. I can compensate by elevating the tack little but I have feeling this will put me back where I started. If I go back to the battens, would it be more efficient to have them at 90 degrees to the foot and perhaps get away with one? The other thing is, I could just go to a sailmaker and have the hem tightened up or even have a "foot line" sewn in. I know that might be best but I'm really cheap, but don't mind spending the money if that's a far superior way to do it.
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Bill Townsend
G-Cat 5.0
Sarasota
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