We went sailing on a friends Valiant 50 yesterday. He had 'double braid' lines for the sheets and since I had never used them before and, last week there was a thread that talked about them I was interested in trying them out. We had a great day with about 18 steady knots and a flat sea doing what we locally call the 'Dana Point Reach'.

I have to admit, they were easier on the hands, were very flexible and didn't hockle. It took a bit of getting use to as they were quite different from the StaSet I'm familiar with.

I found that although they were quite nice the fact that they were so flexible created a new problem. Twice when cranking in the headsail I managed to get a very bad wrap (more of a 'monkeyfunckle'). It seems that because the double braid is so flexible it would lay on the coaming, pile up, pull into and foul the winch drum (I'm not use to looking at the drum but the sail when cranking). I found it necessary every few tunes of the winch to push the line out of the way to keep it from fouling. If your primaries are on a wide coming it may be something to keep in mind as it's flexibility and softness allow it to pile right at equipment.

As long as there's a quick drop to get the line out of the way it's a non issue.