srm wrote:
BrianCT wrote:
wscotterwin wrote:
Why pigtails guys?
Imagine you've got 18" pigtails hanging off the clew of your jib. This would allow you to reduce your overall jib sheet length by 6 feet (18" x 4 = 72"). This is a significant reduction in sheeting between tacks, and is especially convenient if you sail solo.
The jib sheet length reduces by 6 feet, but you have to add in the 3 feet of pigtail length (18" x 2), so the total reduction in line is only 3 feet. Which is still worthwhile, but not of huge significance. And you still have to pull the same amount of line through the blocks each time you tack (i.e., they don't make tacking any quicker).
The most important thing to consider when adding pigtails is that you definitely need to make them short enough so that you can fully sheet in when sailing upwind without bottoming out the block. You want to leave a good 3 to 4 inches between the blocks just to be safe.
sm
Boy, I crashed and burned on that response, didn't I?
Not sure why, but I thought the pigtail being "static" would somehow reduce that extra 3' and somehow reduce the sheeting on tacks (duh!). So effectively, you're just reducing the jib sheet pile on your tramp by 3' then, right? Thanks SRM. I'll probably still make some in the spring.