I learned the hard way why it is a good idea to tie a stopper knot in the main sheet (trying to rig the boat from scratch while in the water capsized and bobbing around in a squall!) but I have never tied the main off or felt any need to. Is it standard procedure?
No, Ross, the strap length is set by the small guage line that runs through the eyes on the back of the cockpit. The sheet is just run through the same spot in the strap that line runs through.
Geez,
You'd think there'd be tangles, but to date (three weeks) it hasn't happened. When I forget to pull the length out on the upwind, it effectively works as if I had just tied it off in the back of the cockpit.
The reason that it is recommended to tie off the end of the mainsheet is that it prevents the loose end of the sheet from tying itself in knots and tangles. At least that's the theory.
Of course the 35 feet or so of line swishing around in the washing machine that's the bottom of your cockpit can still tie itself in knots even if the end is tied off somewhere. But they can only be knots that can be undone without needing to find the end of the line to undo them. And so they are easier to undo. At least that's the theory.
I'd never heard before the suggestion to pull the loose end with the stopper knot through the hiking strap loop to prevent tangles before. If you do that you're effectively going to have two lengths of line in the washing machine, one with a loose end. That might produce some fascinating knots to undo as you round the windward mark I would imagine.
But what do I know? I am not a knot expert. I am knot a Laser expert. My opinion does knot have any weight.