Rigging failure!

Something finally went wrong on my simple and reliable boat. You roller sail haters will love this.

I took down the 140% Genoa yesterday and put up the working jib this morning and went out for a sail.. The jib rolled out halfway and wouldn't go any farther. Fortunately, I was able to roll it up. I verified that all the usual jamming suspects (kinks in furling line, etc.) had alibis and fiddled with it for a while as the windvane steered. I was able to determine that it would rotate freely one direction but not the other and that the restraint was a the mast head.

Back at the dock, I bundled the sheets to the sail and took off the furling line. I could turn it as many turns as I wanted in the furling direction but only 2 - 3 turns in the unfurling direction. After turning it until it jammed, binoculars revealed two wraps of the halyard around the foil. Turning it the other way reduced the wrap to about three quarters of a turn. No amount of halyard tension would pull the halyard attachment back around to its proper place on the aft side. Slacking and tensioning the halyard eventually got the attachment point moved around to the side, 90 degrees out of proper position. The halyard still rubs against the foil in this position.

With the halyard just touching the foil from the 90 degree position but not wrapped, I can spin the sail around and around in the furling direction. Turning the other way however causes it to start wrapping around the foil and jamming. Weird.

My swivel unit is in the proper position close to the headstay so this is not the common case of it being so low on the stay that there is not sufficient angle to keep it from wrapping. It has worked find with this sail all summer.

I have two theories:

The halyard has developed twist from tensioning such that it wants to wrap around the foil. The low friction of the swivel unit isn't sufficient to prevent it from doing this, even hoisted, so that it contacts the end of the foil.

The plastic anti-chafe piece on the foil has fractured and there is now a sharp edge or burr that grabs the halyard in one direction and slides off in the other.

As soon as the wind dies, I'll get the sail down and see what else I can learn.

It does give one pause though to think about dealing with something like this underway; especially with a lee shore close at hand.

Anyone had a similar occurrence? It's a 1980 vintage Harken that has always worked flawlessly.

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Roger Long


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Roger Long


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