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One Sail to the Wind
After the recent Laser regatta at QYC, a large group of us came broad reaching into the little sandy beach where we launch our trailered and dollied boats. With twenty boats and a beach that can funnel out about three boats at a time there was a back-up to get out of the water. Each new arrival had to slide into the hip-high water and control his boat until he made it to the front row and the dolly selection process.
I had been fortunate enough to not have gotten wet since launching about four hours before. As I saw the inevitable reality that I was going to be stepping into four feet of cold water in the third row verses 18 inches in the front row I felt a bemoan arise in my thoughts, “Getting wet is ok for young people, but it takes an extra toll on us older guys.” Can you get much sillier than that? It’s hard to imagine how. But I don’t pretend to control all my impulses.
Anyway, I rounded up, slid over the side and worked the bow around until the clew flogged air off to my left. This is where it can get tricky the first half-a-dozen times you try to de-boom your sail. In the time it takes to untie the small line holding down the sail to the boom the bow tends to fall a bit off the wind, the sail grabs some pressure and the bow slews right off the wind. Now the sail really fills and either you’re going to lose your grip on the boat or it will lay over on its side – not such a bad technique if you have room.
The other way to free the sail is to release the mainsheet so it runs right out of the boom and flags ahead of you as you keep the bow downwind. This approach is a bit treacherous to whoever is being kind enough to push your dolly out to you and to you when you try to guide the bow onto the dolly.
To turn this problem into profit, a number of companies have created Velcro straps that hold the sail a tad tighter, perhaps slide on the boom a bit better and look like they will release easily – they don’t seem to. If you use a clew hook along with the strap it is slightly better. If you own one be sure you try it a few times before you give up on it. You may find a way to use it that pleases you. I had a hook attached to the strap and that worked pretty well, until the rules changed.
Now, if you want things to work easily, buy the Laser stainless steel slide and hook and be done with the whole problem. Come into the beach, round up, release the outhaul, slide over the side, point the bow into the wind until the hook is reachable, grab the boom and unhook the sail, let it fly, place the boom onto the rear deck and flip any excess mainsheet into the cockpit. The only problem you’ll face is a sail clew that will do its best to find a nice tender piece of skin on your face or the shiny lens of your new sunglasses and flick hard enough to do some damage.
When I tell new Laser sailors about the stainless piece, they look at me like I’m a representative of the manufacturer trying to sell them additional equipment after they have just shelled out all the carefully saved money their spouse will allow. A couple of wild wrestling matches trying to get the Laser out of the bridle and they start asking questions about different tie-down systems. I’ve gotten better about waiting for the frustration to appear before I attempt a rescue.
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