Anonymous wrote:Thank you everyone for the tips and cheering up!

I took a short sail with a quickly-assembled THP, and it indeed seemed to fix the problem with the banging yard block and most of the wrinkles.

In light wind the THP straightened the diagonal wrinkles in the lower panels better than the wrinkles of the panels that the THP actually is fastened to. Strange.

A short video to demonstrate and to clarify that I really love night sailing in the northern light :) 

The lazyjacks are still the temporary ones, which makes the reefs ugly, but let's take one thing at the time...

this looks promising. I suggest you drop using the lowest block on that luff hauling parrel. Only then will it act as a THP, and hopefully reduce the last diagonal creases up there. 

Moreover, it is not the end of the world if  a panel or two ends up needing a Hong kong parrel.

Personally I don't mind having the topping lifts slack enough to make the boom drop to a slightly lower angle than the battens higher up, when reefing. This ensures that the leech end of the lowest batten will fly just above the bundle, even wen fully close-hauled under hard sheet load.

Arne. 

Jami, I echo all of Arne's replies, and the only thing to add is that semicircular hoop over the helm position is the best way of all to avoid being strangled by the sheet.

Otherwise - it's early days yet, and we all have to learn what our boats need in the way of good management. You'll get there, after a few more sails.

Hi Jami, here are a few comments to some of your points:

1. and 2.  My fine-angle wedges are also of softwood. Recently, they started to squeak as we rolled in a sea from the side. It turned out that my wedges has been slightly compressed, or simply shrunk a little. A quick remedy was to glue strips of webbing onto the sole (mast side) of six of the wedges and bang them back in. Hopefully that will do the trick. It takes very little movement to produce the squeak. When you experience it again, go forward, below deck, and feel on the mast, both at the partner and at the step to confirm where the movement is. This problem is not a critical short-term problem, but we don’t want to have it in the long run.

3. Some boats roll when pushed hard downwind. My Johanna was bad at that. One remedy is to sheet in the sail a bit to add a bit side force. The other is to reef.

5. As you have said, you haven’t fitted the THP yet. Without it, there is nothing to stop the yard from swinging  far enough forward that the halyard- and YHP block hit the mast. Fit the THP ASAP.

6. Again, fit the THP. This does a second duty as a front downhaul, and would probably be helpful, here.

7. Check your sheeting against the Johanna sheeting diagram. That has a very good anti-twist effect, so if you still have problem with twist, you may have some other problem. Could it be a stuck sheet block?

8. I am not worried about the small wrinkles (so never bother with broad-seams), but the big diagonal creases are bad, as they pull most of the camber out of the batten panels. Again, the THP will fix that. Hong Kong parrels may, or may not be needed as well, on one or two panels.

9. Try to hoist the sail so high that the boom has plenty of clearance. If you have cut the mast to ample length, there should still be 30-50cm drift between the sling-point and the mast top. Now, shorten the topping lifts until the lee topping lift almost start cutting into the sail’s camber. Hopefully, this remedy will leave you with enough deck clearance when reefing. You may also have to ease the tack line to raise the boom.

The sheet wants to catch anything and anyone during a gybe. I tend to position myself with the back to the boom, just before gybing, and hold on firmly to the tiller. This saves my nose, my spectacles and the tiller. On a small boat like yours, it is just as well to sheet the sail in well before gybing and make the gybe short, to avoid any calamities. I often do that to my 35sqm Ingeborg: I lock the tiller to make a slow turn towards gybing, freeing both hands to haul in like mad on the sheet. As we gybe, I ease the sheet quickly through gloved hands, and sometimes with one turn over the winch.

Arne

First impressions, the first things to sort out and a plea for your advice (also, if you spot something on the video, don't be shy to point it out, please!):

1. The mast went in like a charm. Looks like - despite my fears - I got the measurements right and the mast stands straight without significant fiddling with wedges. Phew!

My wedges are made of softwood, and I used a hammer to install them. Can one be too hard with this? Is it possible to harm a 5mm aluminium wall with softwood wedges?

2. I put more significant stress on the mast than was wise on the first sail, but so far the mast itself, the mast top/crane, wedges, partners and step seem fine. I didn't notice but some minor squeaking of the wedges for a few times. This surprised me. Or did I use too much violence (see #1)?

3. It seems that one should reef for following winds and waves sooner than anticipated with the wind itself; this might be true to all JR boats with a heavyish mast very far forward, though.

When the sideways motion starts, it easily becomes very aggressive. This is probably known by all of you, but for me this was new and a bit frightening. I have to teach myself to drop enough sail area before I find myself in these conditions.

Thankfully the Galion's rudder coped with all situations.

4. With all the tweaking of the sail still to come, I am very pleased with the performance close-winded. We sailed through the archipelago with narrow passages, rocky waterways and heavy leisure traffic, and I was happily surprised that practically all situations were cleared without the motor, thanks to the windward ablity and super-easy tacks.

A rough estimate from the gps track (I have no excact intruments to do better) suggests under 90 degree angles already. The Galion is a very close-winded boat with BR, and it seems that a lot of it has to do with the hull shape.

5. I had a problem with the halyard block or the YHP block on the yard hitting the mast and in some cases making scratches on it. How does one keep the slingpoint/s away from the mast in all situations?

6. A few times the panels got stuck while reefing. The batten parrels might be too tight, the temporary padding material (garden hose) too sticky or the problem is something else (what?). This has to be sorted out - I would't like to add downhauls and the complexity with this.

7. With the sheet let out for following winds, there was too much twist for my liking, especially with a reefed sail. I think there was something wrong with the way I rigged the mast lift and some other ropes that hindered the free movement of the boom -  or I might have a problem with the sheeting arrangement.

I used Arne's Johanna-style sheeting. The length of the sheetlets were more or less based on a guess, I haven't got the experience to find out the optimal lenghts yet. 

8. The typical diagonal creases are there. I will first check the slingpoint/s on the yard, the batten parrel lenghts/tightness and sheeting, then maybe add a simple THP. Hopefully this helps, because I did a lot of work with the shaping of the panels; I would like to see the camber properly, no matter if it affects the performance or not (like Annie suggests, shhh).

9. The sheet is everywhere at the cockpit. I might need to build the lazyjacks as running, along with the mast lift to be able to make the first reef upwards. With a full sail the boom is quite low, which fills the cockpit with rope during a jibe. I could live with this, but the sheet seems to like to tangle especially on the tiller. This indicates a possible catastrophy. 

Wonderful news, Jami! Well done!