Line Maintenance = High Management?

All of us have experienced the frustration of trying to ease our mainsheet as we round the windward mark and WA LA! There's a big knot in it causing us to fumble down the leg as we try to release it. Line maintenance on the laser is all about getting in the habit of de-kinking your line. Read on.....

http://centerofeffort01.blogspot.com/2011/07/does-line-management-take-all-fun-out.html

Excuse my French, CoachK, but I think you mean "Voila!"

Merrily said:

Excuse my French, CoachK, but I think you mean "Voila!"

Click to expand...

HA HA! Don't magicians say Wa La! Or maybe it's my upstate NY accent.

I googled Wa La and here's one of the posts I saw on Yahoo answers:
"For the same reason that so many people write "per say". They *hear* these expressions on television, but they don't read any books so they never *see* them written down.
I.e., most people are illiterate television-addicted morons.
Sad but true."

OUCH! I might be an illiterate TV watching moron but at least I don't say "irregardless."

Wow, Yahoo is mean!

I tried tying the end to the toestrap, but ended up getting my foot between the strap and the sheet all the time... I just kick it forwards but not too hard. I never seem to have too much problem but I sail inland and so probably don't do as big sail adjustments as those in waves on the sea..

If you tie it at the front around the toe strap and the mainsheet block it won't slide back and tangle you up. There are sailors who tie it at the back of the hiking strap but I think that's dangerous and your experience proves it.

A lot of it is personal preference. You need to tie off most mainsheets to prevent kinks forming after you have worked them all out on shore. I tie mine around the mainsheet block and toestrap, lasernut ties his to the toestrap at the back of the cockpit. Both systems work for us as its trial and error to find the right set up for you. As with most things in laser sailing there is no definite right answer/system that will work for everyone.

Very true Sailorchick. Thanks for chiming in.

Definitely with sailorchick on this. I always tie mine up at the front of the cockpit. this means that even when it gets in to a knot you can just pull it out as there is only ever 1 end.

It is something I do always mention when checking boats ahead of a training session too (and to anyone who complains about their mainsheet getting knotted when they sail).

I used to tie it in the front of my hiking strap but the problem I had was that when fully let out, there was little space between the block and the knot to grab. By knotting it up at the back of the hiking strap, you have plenty to grab plus you can knot the sheet at a little past perpendicular. Doing that you don't let your sail out more than you need to and that can change as the wind goes up. As for the getting your feet wrapped up with the sheet and the strap, I don't have that much of an issue. But once again it's a matter of preference.

Eric_R said:

I used to tie it in the front of my hiking strap but the problem I had was that when fully let out, there was little space between the block and the knot to grab. By knotting it up at the back of the hiking strap, you have plenty to grab plus you can knot the sheet at a little past perpendicular. Doing that you don't let your sail out more than you need to and that can change as the wind goes up. As for the getting your feet wrapped up with the sheet and the strap, I don't have that much of an issue. But once again it's a matter of preference.

Click to expand...

You should always have hold of the miansheet though....I never let mine god as, especially with the new blocks, the line shoots out and this can cause a really violet and sudden capsize.

The times when the mainsheet has slipped out of my hands I have never had a issue grabbing the loop, it is just a case of ensuring you have a long enough tail to make a loop.

But as has been pointed out above what works for me might not work for you.......

Agree with Jeffers, don't let go of the mainsheet if you can help it. My mainsheet is long enough that when tied at the front there is still plenty of rope left to hold onto.

When it's lighter I like to play the mainsheet in front of the block for reaching and downwind. When you have to switch and it's out all the way it's hard to grab much when the knot is less than an inch from the block

Eric_R said:

When it's lighter I like to play the mainsheet in front of the block for reaching and downwind. When you have to switch and it's out all the way it's hard to grab much when the knot is less than an inch from the block

Click to expand...

If it is light you will have plenty of time, a glance down to the block to see where the mainsheet is, then trap the sheet wth your tiller hand and use your free hand to starting pulling it back through the block.

This is what I do as offwind in the light stuff I too play straight off the boom, gives a much better feel.

I tie it to the back because -- while I never *intend* to let it go, sometimes that happens downwind (in super light air, or to fiddle with the vang, or because I missed a hand transfer doing s-turns, or ...)

With it tied to the back of the hiking strap, if I drop it I can just reach straight down to the hiking strap and find it again without looking -- and my hand lands on it in a way that I can immediately pull (straight up or out to the side) a full arm extension's worth.

When I tied it to the front of the strap I could find it easily enough, but I couldn't pull as fast or as far without making another adjustment to my hand position.