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Soft Shackle Untra-Lite Sheet
I didn't know if I should title this article "Splicing Samson Ultra-lite", "Integrated Soft Shackle Light Air Sheet", "Soft Light Air Sheet", or "The Ultimate Sheet for Light Air Sailing". Maybe "How I Went From Doing Pirouettes in Light Air to Nirvana."
The truth is that it is all of these. In most of the time I owned Papoose, if the wind got down to about 5 knots the boat would just sit there and turn usually backing to the wind. Now I have a free flying light air jib and a spinnaker and sailing in 5 knots of wind is my favorite sailing condition.
Clearly a large part of this is the sails. The jib is a 155 rip stop polyester. It is ideal below 10 knots. I launch it from a spinnaker bag and just stuff it back in. It is light and easy to handle. But it is not much use if the clew is weighted down by a heavy sheet. I started with 1/4 inch Warpspeed sheets but even they are too heavy. Now I am using 3/16" Ultra-lite and typically use a single sheet, adding a second if we have to tack or gybe.
Ultra-lite cannot be spliced and I found that using knots both takes away half the strength but also if I use an Amsteel integrated line shackle on the end, the knot won't pass through the jib block. That is when I got the idea to double the Ultra-lite over and sew it along the length of the overlap leaving an eye at the end to splice the Amsteel through. I have used that on my Spinnaker in 15 knots. I said, leave it up and let's see if it breaks. It didn't. I now use it exclusively with the spinnaker as 15 knots is the take-down wind. I have used my spinnaker in 30 knots but it is pretty hard to handle the boat in that much wind. My sailmaker said take it down, you don't need it in high winds.
The truth is that it is all of these. In most of the time I owned Papoose, if the wind got down to about 5 knots the boat would just sit there and turn usually backing to the wind. Now I have a free flying light air jib and a spinnaker and sailing in 5 knots of wind is my favorite sailing condition.
Clearly a large part of this is the sails. The jib is a 155 rip stop polyester. It is ideal below 10 knots. I launch it from a spinnaker bag and just stuff it back in. It is light and easy to handle. But it is not much use if the clew is weighted down by a heavy sheet. I started with 1/4 inch Warpspeed sheets but even they are too heavy. Now I am using 3/16" Ultra-lite and typically use a single sheet, adding a second if we have to tack or gybe.
Ultra-lite cannot be spliced and I found that using knots both takes away half the strength but also if I use an Amsteel integrated line shackle on the end, the knot won't pass through the jib block. That is when I got the idea to double the Ultra-lite over and sew it along the length of the overlap leaving an eye at the end to splice the Amsteel through. I have used that on my Spinnaker in 15 knots. I said, leave it up and let's see if it breaks. It didn't. I now use it exclusively with the spinnaker as 15 knots is the take-down wind. I have used my spinnaker in 30 knots but it is pretty hard to handle the boat in that much wind. My sailmaker said take it down, you don't need it in high winds.
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