Should I release the choker line all the way while raising the sail?

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21

Boat handling is a skill that we develop over time in our own way. No two sailors are exactly the same, what works for me on Soave may be different for others. Below are some general thoughts that might help.

On Soave, I think of my choker adjustment in terms of %… where 100% is tight enough to beat efficiently in 14-16 knots of wind. At 100% Soave’s sail barely touches the wishbone. This is very tight. We ease from 100 % to 50% before doing anything that might concentrate forces on a small area of the sail track. ( reefing, hoisting, dousing ). We generally sail with choker set between 65%-85%. When we ease, the choker is held to a looser setting, it’s never allowed to run free on Soave. We do open the clutch on our mainsheet, and since our main winch is for both halyard and sheet, while hoisting, Soave’s mainsheet can technically run free, but the open clutch and the weight of the wishbone dampen motion enough that not much sheet plays out while the main is being hoisted. We are diligent about keep bow into the wind.

This conversation reminds me of the vang on our Flying Scot… at 100% vang, if you rounded the windward mark and eased the main for the downwind leg without FIRST easing the vang in heavy air the boom would bend/snap. The difference between damaging your boom was about 8" of vang so many sailors never ran with the vang that tight and could avoid the risk of damage.

I’ve heard of a few Nonsuch sailors that have damaged their luff track because they forgot to ease their choker. A couple marks on the choker line makes it easy to know what it’s set to. Maybe red for tight, black for medium, and green for eased.

On Soave we ease her choker before lowering the sail to 50% of the adjustable range that’s maybe 2-4’ of choker line off the 100% setting. At 50% the sail will have lots of draft ( power), a setting that might be good for light air. Once eased the boat is ready to be put to bed, we don’t adjust till the next time we sail. Our slip is in a very sheltered basin, so the wishbone doesn’t bounce much after we attach a keeper to hold the wishbone to one side of center. The keeper goes on immediately after the sail is down as we are motoring home.

Most folks wait till they get under way to adjust the choker from the eased setting. We check the choker ( this is where some marks can be handy ) before hoisting but rarely have to change it because we leave it eased between outings.

Answer to first question… Will the choker keep the boat from falling off ? No. Easing choker makes it easier to raise the sail and avoids unnecessary stress on the sail track. If you are in heavy air and you fall off with an eased choker the boat will be powered up, but you can depower by easing the main or heading up into the wind.

Answer to the second question… Can I fall off and then finish raising the sail ? HARD NO ! Keep the boat headed into the wind till the sail is fully hoisted. Never adjust the halyard while the sail is loaded… head up, adjust, fall off to resume sailing.

Maybe coach a crewmember to hold the wheel and steer into the wind by looking a the direction of the sail while you are hoisting it. Your engine RPMs need to be high enough to drive the boat forward. Most days on Soave this would be 1000 RPM, but we’ve had days when 2000 RPMs were needed. If the current is from behind your SOG needs to be higher to maintain control, with the wind on your nose it’s going to feel faster than it is.

Good luck… sounds like you are getting lots of practice. It will get easier. It made a huge difference for me to crew on other boats and see what was working for other skippers. Other skippers enjoy having an extra set of hands aboard. Win-Win.

Rob
s/v SOAVE
NS33 #009
Cedar Point YC
Westport, CT

22

Hi Surendira,
All yacht designs are a compromise. This is especially true for the Nonsuch to maximize cabin space by placing the mast far foreword and ahead of the keel. This arrangement means that she falls off the wind far faster than standard designs. Like you, I sail single handed and found it necessary to install Raymarine self steering after my first season of owning Mascouche. I have never regretted the purchase. I set a course head to wind and set the throttle sufficiently high to maintain steerage way. The choker is eased to reduce the pressure on the cars while raising sail. One has to be careful not to have too much slack on the halyard before starting to raise sail as it loves to foul navigation lights or anything else that it can wrap around. Once the sail is raised, the choker is adjusted to suit the wind speed.

Because the mast is so far forward and acts as a wind vane, I find the best way to pick up a mooring buoy, especially when sailing single handed is to reverse to the buoy. It takes advantage of the wind vane effect and the boat tracks well while the buoy is visible at all times and pick up is made from the cockpit.

John Newell
Mascouche NS 26
Toronto

23

Hi Surendira,
All yacht designs are a compromise. This is especially true for the Nonsuch to maximize cabin space by placing the mast far foreword and ahead of the keel. This arrangement means that she falls off the wind far faster than standard designs. Like you, I sail single handed and found it necessary to install Raymarine self steering after my first season of owning Mascouche. I have never regretted the purchase. I set a course head to wind and set the throttle sufficiently high to maintain steerage way. The choker is eased to reduce the pressure on the cars while raising sail. One has to be careful not to have too much slack on the halyard before starting to raise sail as it loves to foul navigation lights or anything else that it can wrap around. Once the sail is raised, the choker is adjusted to suit the wind speed.

Because the mast is so far forward and acts as a wind vane, I find the best way to pick up a mooring buoy, especially when sailing single handed is to reverse to the buoy. It takes advantage of the wind vane effect and the boat tracks well while the buoy is visible at all times and pick up is made from the cockpit.

John Newell
Mascouche NS 26
Toronto

24

Hi Surendira,
All yacht designs are a compromise. This is especially true for the Nonsuch to maximize cabin space by placing the mast far foreword and ahead of the keel. This arrangement means that she falls off the wind far faster than standard designs. Like you, I sail single handed and found it necessary to install Raymarine self steering after my first season of owning Mascouche. I have never regretted the purchase. I set a course head to wind and set the throttle sufficiently high to maintain steerage way. The choker is eased to reduce the pressure on the cars while raising sail. One has to be careful not to have too much slack on the halyard before starting to raise sail as it loves to foul navigation lights or anything else that it can wrap around. Once the sail is raised, the choker is adjusted to suit the wind speed.

Because the mast is so far forward and acts as a wind vane, I find the best way to pick up a mooring buoy, especially when sailing single handed is to reverse to the buoy. It takes advantage of the wind vane effect and the boat tracks well while the buoy is visible at all times and pick up is made from the cockpit.

John Newell
Mascouche NS 26
Toronto

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25

That reminds me. After I attach the halyard to the head of the sail, and while still at the dock, I raise the sail a bit to keep the halyard from snagging behind the cheek block or padeye for the choker. You may or may not have that snagging problem, but doing so might gain you an extra second or two in your sail raising process and race back to the helm seat.

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John,

Thanks for the tip about coming backwards to pick up a mooring. I’ll give that a try.

Ward Woodruff
413-847-0620 cell

27

Hi Siva,

On my NS22 I release the choker completely when raising sail (and when lowering sail and reefing), and unlike others I adjust it fairly often, as I find that it has a considerable effect on sail shape and therefore performance.

As for my hoisting procedure I raise the sail while “hove to”. Our boats don’t heave to in the usual sense of course but at least in a 22 you can achieve the same effect. First I stop the boat. Then I release the sheet entirely and let the sail find its own place, and then I lock the helm to windward. The boat will want to fall off, as others have remarked, but the locked over helm brings the bow back up towards the wind. The boat ends up lying beam on to the wind and just bobs peacefully, even with decent sized waves. (I can also do this any time I need a moment to do something while under way.) I can then raise the sail with no need to hurry, no scrambling around. Hoisting while motoring is much trickier in my view, especially because I do not have an autopilot that will steer to the wind.

I use the same technique to lower the sail, but it’s a bit trickier because part of the sail will sometimes begin to fall outside of the wishbone. If that happens I re-hoist the sail partially and lower it again. That usually works but in the worst case I keep the halyard in my left hand and with my right I flip on the motor (my motor is electric so it literally is just a flip of a switch), gain a little way and head up just a tad; that’s enough to bring the whole sail between the two arms of the boom, and then I just drop the sail. Again, this is much more relaxed than lowering under power, especially going at the rate necessary to keep the bow from falling off.

I do this whether I am single-handed or not. It’s just much more relaxed than working while under way.

I don’t know if this would work on the larger boats, but it does on a 22. Everything is of course smaller and lighter on a 22 and operations are therefore easier. Can’t hurt to try, though! I would certainly give it a go on a 26.

Hope this helps.

Christian

28

I’ve seen recommendations that the sail be dropped when on a close reach, with lines loose.

That achieves the effects Christian describes, but keeps the sail contained between the boom sides rather than hanging over.

– Bob