Easy De-power

[alittleton]

I inserted pictures in the attached word document since they don't appear to be visible within text.

I got to thinking, after sailing in the 2007 Worlds for my first time and watching Dave Mendelblatt (about 140 pounds) win race 7 (heavy air )with an extreme 24” Jens rig. (Dave literally lowered the bar, pun intended) I was looking for an easier way to make it adjustable from Normal to 24”. 24 inches is the distance the halyard is tied below the normal position to de-power.

What I came up with appears to be legal and functional. This should help level the playing field in heavy wind conditions. Even our light weights could now stay competitive. Some tweaking of the rules would help make it even more user friendly.

I have developed what I believe is an improved Jen’s rig for de-powering the sunfish. I have been using this rig since the worlds, in all conditions, trying to learn how much power is needed. I am still learning. I encourage others to comment, try it and further develop this idea.

Materials needed or recommended:
1 Halyard 25’ 4 mm dia. (Standard length) Small dia. So both lines fit through mast cap hole.
1 Jens line 34’ 4 mm dia. Spectra. (Slippery)
1 cleat on mast.
Tape to prevent Spectra line from slipping on upper spar.

1). Mount the cleat to the mast at the position of your choice. Mine is 45” from the bottom of the mast. Within the 48” limit, but away from the deck where the highest stresses are.
2). The halyard is very simple. Leave it in the normal position on the upper spar and run it through the mast cap.
3). Next the Jens line is tied to the upper spar 24” down form the normal halyard position.

The big change is a slight modification to the clove hitch when you tie the Jens line to the spar. Previously I tied a stopper knot (over hand) at the very end of the line to lock in the clove hitch.. Replacing the stopper knot with a small bowline and tying the same knot is the key. Tie the clove hitch so that the small bowline (new stopper knot) ends up on the port side of the spar.

After the slightly modified clove hitch is tied to the spar, the running end of the Jens line is wrapped around the mast from starboard to port, though the bowline and up thought the mast cap hole.

The loop around the mast cinches the spar to the mast at the 24” setting. Now raise the sail using the Jens line.

I take the Jens line to the cleat on the mast and tie a trucker’s hitch to get more purchase (3:1). I use the Jens line to adjust the height of the boom from the deck.


Using the end of the halyard or Jens line, I tie the vang to the deck eye. You can now use the Jens line cleat on the mast to adjust the vang tension. More tension on the Jens line results in more vang tension by lifting the upper spar slightly.


You now should have the sail raised with the Jens line, to a 24 inch extreme Jens rig, and the vang on. From this point the only adjustment to the Jens line is for vang tension.


Now for the fun. The normal halyard is now your throttle. With no halyard tension, you have a 24” Extreme Jens and the top spar is free to bend and dump air.



As you pull tension on the halyard, you pull the upper spar forward and closer to the top of the mast. This limits how much spar can bend off at the top and increases power.


Simply release halyard tension to de-power the boat. I use a trucker’s hitch on the halyard (3:1) for purchase, take the end through the deck eye and tie to the halyard cleat.

The use of thimbles in the bowline and purchases would help things slide more freely. Spectra line is used as it is very slippery and reduces the friction of the Jens line around the mast. The use of additional cleats would make it easily adjustable during a race. You would no longer have to guess before the race what the wind velocity will do during the race.

If this de-powering method is found to be to complicated, ineffective or illegal for some class rule, you can still use this method to tie a Jens rig with one halyard and no additional line. Also, no need to lower the mast. Simply lower the sail, untie local sail ties and slide the clove hitch to proper location, retie sail ties. Now raise the sail.

Happy Sailing,

Art Littleton

 

[pjfoerster]

Great Pictures. We have been doing this sort of thing in Texas for a while. Not exactly like yours but very similar. It does work very well. Greg Gust has even been able to adjust it in a race. I used it at the Pam Am Games this year. Greg Gust used it at the Worlds this year. YOur pictures really will help in teaching other people how to rig it. Our rigging is a little bit harder and we it is hard to teach someone how to rig it.

Paul Foerster

 

[dhowlett]

Art,
I finally took time to look at your posting. The pictures really help to describe what you are doing. I will try it next spring!
Doug

 

[altair]

Great post! I weigh about 150 soaking wet and have been trying to find a good way to rig the jens while out on the water. Great pictures, I am going to try this rig. Maybe I can keep up with those 200lbs guys! Thanks for the post, great information for us light weights.

 

[Gail]

Art--very creative! Thank you for writing up, taking photos and sharing this tip. Only 1 cleat on the mast. Only 2 cleats on the booms, total. Check the By-laws to see if there are limits on thimbles--I don't remember. If I ever do Jenny Craig for a couple years, I'll look into applying this!!

 

[bertocci]

That is a very interesting solution. It is a little different than what Derek Jackson showed my kids, but a similar concept. We'll probably experiment with it.

I believe that this is an area where the class could make a rule change that would simplify the problem particularly for kids and help keep the cost down. I would support a change that would allow 2 Jens lines and 2 cleats.

While you can rig the system to meet the class rules, it requires a fairly complex way of running the lines which get easily tangled. The kids sometimes have trouble getting them straight. By cutting the single Jens halyard into two pieces you can have a separate line attached to the top of the mast that provides a turning point for the Jens halyard. It makes it easy to straighten out the halyards. It also means that the overall halyard is shorter, saving money and when the line on the mast wears out you only need to replace a short piece of line. It is a bit counterintuitive that I can rig a Sunfish by the rules, then take a knife, cut a line and break the rules.

Having two cleats makes it easy for the kids to hoist and get everything tight. You can use two clam cleats, one for the Jens halyard and one for the normal halyard. I'm not sure what the definition of one cleat is, but I could easily imagine designing a cleat that can accomodate two lines such as a horn cleat with two horns. Would that be a single cleat? Rather than trying to invent a new cleat for two lines, it would be cheaper to allow two cleats.

 

[beldar boathead]

I could easily imagine designing a cleat that can accomodate two lines such as a horn cleat with two horns. .

A normal horn cleat already accomodates two lines. Cleat the first line, then cleat the 2nd line on top of the first.

BB

 

[bertocci]

You are right that you can cleat two lines (or 3 as we are doing now) on a horn cleat and for me that would work just fine. What I find is that kids in the 80-120 pound range prefer a clam cleat. They can banjo the line and get it tighter with less trouble. Moreover, they find it easier to hoist the sail with the normal halyard first and then tighten the Jens halyard second particularly because it is a thin very slippery line. With only one horn cleat, the halyards then end up cleated in the wrong order, since you want the main halyard on top.

This is the kind of rule change that is probably not very important to most adults and older teenagers, but makes it easier on the smaller kids. It helps make them more self sufficient.

For this application a cleat that is part horn and part clam would be ideal.