Length of main halyard

[Kevin]

Out sailing in a good blow on Sunday, kicker and cunningham tight on and the usual thing happens, main halyard stretches and the sail drops down the mast two to three inches. Might not sound much but there’s only so much cunningham you can apply before you go block to block.
The standard halyard supplied with my new boat is rubbish so it’ll need replacing. Been looking on the Rooster site at their 4mm halyard, guaranteed not to stretch. My two questions are:
How long is the halyard?
Will 4mm be thick enough for the standard mast cleat ( I think my current halyard is 5mm or a bit more )

If anyone has an alternative halyard rope recommendation please let me know.

Many thanks
Kevin
1226.

[Pete1177]

Hi Kevin,

Here's my advice: I wouldn't use 4mm at all. I had 4mm rope with a 2:1 arrangement when I first got SN1177 and I didn't like it at all. The 4mm rope is a bit thin to handle and the 2:1 uses too much rope, which I didn't like. Personally I would use 5mm Marlow Excel Racing which has a Dyneema SK78 core with a polyester braid cover. It's very flexible and doesn't kink or coil up on itself too easily. It's also pre-stretched which helps for halyards. I assume you are looking at the Rooster Halitec which has a similar construction. I'm not familiar with this rope but it looks OK on paper - I wouldn't use a 4mm halyard though.

Jimmy Green Marine has the Marlow Excel on clearance at the moment at a very competitive price just over £2 per metre (end of reel stock) - usually its around £3.40/m. I am going to order some myself because the price is so good. The nova mast is 5.6m so you need twice this plus a bit (say a metre) if you are cleating - you need to cut off a bit at the bobble end to move the cleat wear point. 12m should be enough.

While you are about it I would advise getting rid of the cleat and using a Spinlock cleat (around £30). The part you need is a Spinlock PXR Single Cleat 2-6mm PXR0206. You can't rivet this to the mast so you'll need to fix with a couple of self tappers (stainless marine grade). You can keep the existing cleat in place and use it as a handy cleat for securing the halyard end when you have the sail down on the shore. This cleat has never let me down on 2 boats and is very reliable. It also doesn't wear the halyard braided cover.

Hope that helps.

Pete SN1177

[Kevin]

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the information, I fitted a Spinlock cleat to my first Nova mast 1078, it worked well. I’m promised a new mast from Hartleys to replace my rather faded 6 month old one. As usual they haven’t exactly rushed to resolve this issue but I could ask them to fit the Spinlock cleat and pay for the upgraded fitting.
I’ll give Jimmy Green Marine a look. I never have this problem with the cat as it has a halyard lock at the top of the mast.

One thing I’m aware when sailing the Nova in a blow is my poor gybe technique. I have a tendency to roll the boat over to windward once the boom comes over. When it’s windy I try to gybe from fully downwind to fully downwind using my weight rather than excessive tiller to initiate the manoeuvre. I’m struggling to do this without going for a swim in anything above 15-20 knots wind.
Any thoughts?

Kevin
1226

[Tezzer]

This works for me.
Pull the sail to the top of the mast and cleat halyard.
Fit the Cunningham and pull on Cunningham fully.
Coil up your main halyard and stow.
Release the Cunningham and pull the slack out of the main halyard.

[paulmcnally]

My boat came with a 5mm halyard that needed replacement so I swapped for 4mm Rooster Halitec. This works a treat and is stretch free even after pulling on significant downhaul. The other benefit is that its narrower width creates less friction where the halyard passes inside the mast and up the luff groove and over the pulley at the top of the mast so makes pulling the main up noticeably easier. https://www.roostersailing.com/products/143759