Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

Not quite as easy on a larger, more complex boat...

for example to remove my mainsail, 960 sq ft and about 185 lbs with the battens installed:

*Unreave the main halyard from the special squarehead headboard
*Unshackle and un-reave the clew reefing lanyards, coil and stow
*Unreave the tack reefing lines, coil and stow
*Pack and zip up the Stackpack
*Tie the spare halyard around the bundle
*Remove the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd reef blocks and strops from the boom
*Tie a line on the clew, winch aft to the mizzen to gain enough slack to remove the Spectra clew strop
*Go up the mast on a bosuns chair, untie the forward Stackpack lanyards
*Tie lines onto the ends of the lazyjacks (X8) so they can be slackened enough to unhook and then tie off
*Shackle the mizzen staysail halyard onto the clew
*Remove the (13) pins holding the batten cars to the batten fittings
*Untie (or cut since it is usually too tight to untie) the Spectra downhaul line from the tack ring
*Operating the spare main halyard and mizzen staysail halyards, hoist the sail clear of the boom and vang
*Swing the sail over the lifelines and lay on the dock, untie halyards
*Open Stackpack, unlace the batten closures and remove 7 sail battens (24' long) and 2 Stackpack battens, bundle and stow in boom
*Rearrange Stackpack and sail on dock, flake and brick, wrestle into bag
*Tie lines around bag, hoist with staysail halyard on deck

It can be done in half a day, if I keep at it. About another half day to remove the boom. On my previous boat, with only a normal 620 sq ft mainsail could be done in 30 minutes if I hurried.

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