Diagnosing a bad-looking main

[mike]

I went out Saturday afternoon... beautiful weather, approx. 6-9kts wind.

My main had these noticeable wrinkles. I fiddled around a bit with the outhaul, vang, and halyard tension, but eventually just gave up and sailed with it as-is. Any ideas as to why the main looked so bad?



--Mike

[Pouw Geuzebroek]

Well Mike, looks to me as too much tension on the backstay or still tension on the topping lift.

[Don T]

Hello:
Looks to me like the halyard was hung up. All it takes is one twist around itself. The main usually has to be all the way up to the pulley. Either that or the tack at the bottom was out and the leach was moving up.

[mike]

Well Mike, looks to me as too much tension on the backstay or still tension on the topping lift.

Ahhhh... this is the one thing I didn't try. If it happens next time out, I'll be sure to check this.

--Mike

[mike]

Hello:
Looks to me like the halyard was hung up. All it takes is one twist around itself. The main usually has to be all the way up to the pulley. Either that or the tack at the bottom was out and the leach was moving up.

I did confirm that the tack was secure.

--Mike

[Murv Barry]

Has your bolt rope shrunk? If your mainsail retains wrinkles after you have adequate tension on the halyard and nothing else is holding it up, the reason you can't get the wrinkles out is because of the above. I've solved that problem by cutting the bolt rope. As far as I know the only reason for the bolt rope is to keep the sail in the mast slot altho I have slugs on mine. The bolt rope provides support for the slugs. Murv

[Andy26M]

My immediate thought was topping lift or rigid vang - those wrinkles look to me like something is holding the boom up too high.

I often have a sail that looks like this because I use the topping lift to raise the boom out of the way above the cockpit, then raise the main without remembering to first let the boom back down - I'll be honking away on the mainsheet trying to trim the sail and then - Doh! Homer moment.

- AndyS

[Catigale]

Ive gotten this look (maybe not quite that bad) on my when I have rigged the main halyard backwards...

The halyard should come down the block straight onto the main, if you have it on the wrong side of the block the halyard angle will preclude getting enough tension on the main.

[aya16]

Most likely topping lift, If you look at the rinkles they point to the boom being to high the way they are curved.

[mike]

I have a Boomkicker, so I don't use the topping lift anymore. I did try to tighten the vang, but perhaps I didn't pull it tight enough (I think I need more purchase on the vang... I have a hard time pulling it).

--Mike

[dclark]

FWIW...When I changed over to slugs and a boom kicker, I had wrinkle problems, but they didn't quite look like that. Which may make sense because my problem was the opposite of what everyone is saying. I had the vang and/or the main sheet too tight while raising the main. So when the halyard could raise the main no more, it still wasn't quite up all the way and as tight as it should be. Realeasing the vang completely and keeping the main sheet cleated a little loosly solved the problem.

[Tripp Gal]

First. I am looking at a sail that appears to be on a reach. I would like to see a shot that is beating to weather from the same position and one from the base of the boom looking up the leech on a beat as well.

This is a quick off-the-cuff response.

1.The Dacron has stretched
2.You will need 2-3 feet of halyard more to try and compensate for the belly of the sail, but then it will start making other things wrong
3.Draft depth doesnt match luff curve. Just way too much belly.
4.The leech is closed off indicating the topping lift is not on. If the topping lift was on the leech would be spilled off.
5.You are starting to get batten poke which means the fabric is getting fatigued at those points.
Bottom line: The sail needs a re-cut/tummy tuck. There is just too much belly in that sail. The draft is way too far aft as well. Under 200 dollars will help your sail for another few season.

[sailpsych]

It is tough to say without knowing the conditions you are sailing in.

In the event you're not satisfied with the responses here. I just decided to sell my exta Mac 26X main sail. Give me a shout if you're interested.

Regards,

[baldbaby2000]

I don't know if you have a cunningham; If you do I'd say tighten it. It looks like maybe your leech string is cleated but I don't think that would cause those wrinkles. How old is your sail?