I couldn’t get the jib riggedlast Saturday – I had steady winds in the teens with gusts into the 20s and I just wasn’t willing to keep thrashing the jib. I was sailing solo that day, so I didn’t have a helper to hold the clew of the sail dead downwind to avoid flapping. To make matters worse, after recent LASIK, I can’t see fine details at 2’ focus without specs, so I couldn’t disengage the sister clips and time/wind was not my jib’s friend… so I stuffed it into the back of the Subaru and sailed mono-rig that day. I had a great time even with just the mainsail, but I had some challenges tacking across the wind, and got stalled out a few times. Backwinding the jib would have been handy, but I can usually back out of irons and onto my new tack.
So my question is this… does anyone have any tricks/suggestions for hoisting a Hobie 18 jib solo in heavy air?
With dacron sails, I could pre-rig the sail solo around the forestay and prewind the furler in my shop, then coil it all up together with a couple of rubber bands, and deploy coiled when I raised the mast. Connect the jib sheets, cleat the furler line, and I was good to go (the rubber bands pop when you unfurl/sheet in). With a mylar sail, the coiled/furled sail is too stiff to loosely coil, and I don’t want to fold it.
So how do you folks zip on, tension, and furl a jib in heavy air without it whipping itself (and you) to death?
Randii (who almost misses H18 jib battens)
tricks for hoisting a Hobie 18 jib solo in heavy winds
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Posted: Feb 16, 2018 - 05:18 PM
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Posted: Feb 16, 2018 - 06:00 PM
Some of the H18 guys I knew, dropped the mast with the jib furled, then removed the forestay with jib furled around it from the mast. On the next sail, hook up the furled jib and forestay to the mast, step, connect and sail.
The H14 turbo's did this too.
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Ron
Nacra F18
Reservoir Sailing Assn.
Brandon, Mississippi
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Posted: Feb 16, 2018 - 06:08 PM
i kept my jib furled on my forestay when i owned a h18
i never washed it, never worried about it but was young (er) and dumb (er)
it's not the best method for the life of the sail but i wouldn't didn't know/care
What i would suggest these days is ....
(a - wash your sails when they get dirty / salty)
b.
flake (fold your sail so the head is at the top of the bundle and as easy as possible to rig on the fly) your jib, stow it in a bag (so it CAN"T come out) and take it sailing. If you can, stop on the lea of an island, ship, whale, etc and if you park well.. you are in a zero wind area. take your time and raise it. be ready for the winds aloft to be still moving (depending on what type of windage you are parked behind) and go saill the snot out of it!
I would also suggest high wind furling skills... so test that out and make sure you know how to safely furl in 30knots+ incase mother nature gets mad at you (if your gonna pull it out in 20) -
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Posted: Feb 16, 2018 - 06:18 PM
Been sailing Hobie 18’s for about 30 years and in my experience, there’s no good way to keep the jib from flogging during the hoist. You can connect the jib sheet before hoisting and sheet on a little tension to keep the clew under control, but you don’t want to risk flipping the boat or spinning the bow (if your boat is on cat wheels). Otherwise you just need to be fast. Get it hoisted, tensioned, zipped, and furled as quick as you can. If it’s that windy and you’re going solo, you probably won’t want the jib anyway.
sm
Edited by Dogboy on Feb 16, 2018 - 06:19 PM. -
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Posted: Feb 16, 2018 - 06:54 PM
I use a 2" pvc pipe a little shorter then the length of the foot and attach clew and tack to the ends with bungee chords and hooks and roll it up when I take it down. Then, when raising it rolls out staying stable. -
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Posted: Feb 16, 2018 - 07:53 PM
At my club we use a roller furling jib with a sock on it the zipper on the sock attached to the main sheet for storage and the jib is up all the time but furled in the sock -point your boat into the wind works great -
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Posted: Feb 16, 2018 - 08:18 PM
A PVC core to wrap around was Plan A -- I've used PVC and heavy zip ties for a season; it really helps quickly roll with minimal creases. While I was hoisting, the front zip tie broke and then I was dealing with a rather energetic and unhappy chunk of PVC. :( Plan A works well in low or moderate breeze, but has me searching for Plan B in heavy breeze.
Catsalor, the sock you describe, is that essentially a snorkel? I've considered that... i
Maybe if I furl the Pentex jib looser it will be flexible enough to wind into meter-diameter loops. When furled tightly, it is very stiff!
Randii -
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Posted: Feb 17, 2018 - 12:41 AM
yes it is a snorkel works great -
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Posted: Feb 17, 2018 - 11:19 AM
I have used a shock cord to keep some tension on the clew with some success. I prefer to keep my pentex jib furled in a large sail bag as it's gotten older and I am less worried about folds. It seems sun and chafe have done more damage than folds at seven years old. (There are lot of creases from folds, but don't seem to be causing problems like in mylar) I do keep a snorkel on it when not sailing taking a break now because more worried about sun damage than folds , but on windy days the snorkel can cause more damage with chafe than the sun does and I leave it off. Most furling jibs I've seen have been destroyed by the sun, but have seen new jibs destroyed in a afternoon flapping in a strong wind and are right to be cautious about it.
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Tomcat 6.2
Supercat 20 / 17
Searunner 16 Tri home built
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Posted: Feb 17, 2018 - 07:11 PM
+1
I use a UV strip on all my jibs, but these boats stay rigged all season. I asked the sailmaker I use about snorkels, & if thy were better than a UV strip.
He said he would build me a snorkel, IF I insisted on one, but in his opinion, they were not worth it because of the damage they caused from chafe.
I was surprised,as I thought they would be an excellent means of protection. He basically said you can't make them fit tight enough, & he replaced/repaired tons of jib that were damaged via snorkels.
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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
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Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
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