Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

No, it's not.

You have a topping lift on only one side of a sail. You have lazy jacks on both sides of your sail, and a narrow slot to raise you main in. Most people know which side their topping lift is one and simply raise the sail on a slight port or starboard tack.

To remove a Dutchman with a halyard style topping lift, you simply lower the Dutchman pennant, disconnect it from the topping lift, and store it attached to your sail. In the spring, you reverse the process and your Dutchman is set.

Van Breems Holland Yachts has installed Dutchman SF systems on just about all the boats they sold, including several 54 foot Hanses. These boats are all main, with large roaches. As I said earlier, the Dutchman sail flaking system is one thing that works as advertised. You may not want to go through the effort to install a topping lift and Dutchman, but it would solve the problem you initially wrote about snagging your main on your lazy jacks, and flake your sail to boot.

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