Hobie Cat Forums

Could someone point me to their favorite sailing rope for the island? A link would be awesome if possible. Thanks!

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"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die discover that I had not lived." - Thoreau

For the mainsheet I like the New England Sta-Set because it's fairly easy on your hands.

For control ropes I like something with a little harder surface, but haven't yet found exactly what I'm looking for. Honestly, however, the stuff Hobie uses is pretty darn good.

Thanks Tom!

This is the first time I have sailed anything and I'm trying to catch up on the lingo. I just had to google, "main sheet". I googled some more and it's the rope used to "reef" the sail that is my problem. It seems like the one that came with my TI is about 5 ft too short to control effectively from the rear so I want to replace it. I will check out the New England sta set. Thanks!

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"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die discover that I had not lived." - Thoreau

OK, there is a way to avoid buying a new rope.

Firstly, send out just about all the mainsheet through the front cleat, so the end knot is almost in it. This will give you heaps more mainsheet at the back seat. Take this new extra long mainsheet end, and tie a figure eight knot (google is your friend LOL) to the reefing line end. You will then have a loop at your hand, pulling one way will pull the sail tighter, and pulling the other way will reef(furl) the sail around the mast.

Easy-peasy!

I don't usually see a figure 8 knot suggested for tying 2 ropes together (and neither does Google ). Are you sure you mean that knot, Tony? I tie mine by keeping a short loop tied in the main sheet with a bowline, and tying the reefing line into this with a sheet bend, sometimes with an additional half hitch for security.

A figure eight knot is fine in this application, as there is no load on it. It simply "parks" the end of the furling line ahead of a simple knot on the end of the mainsheet for convenience. Mind you, I use it in the front seat of my TI, and on reflection, it would probably be better to follow your suggestion if sailing from the back seat, where the joint is necessary so both mainsheet and furling lines are accessible. (In this case the join takes a load until the sail is partly furled and you have reached the furling line in your hands)

The bowlines, which are always in both the fore and aft mainsheet ends, also keeps them from running out through their cleats and their fairleads (the arch on top of the cleat, where the rope runs when not going through the cleat, surf hunter). I can sheet bend tie the reefing line to whichever sheet end is currently in use, and run the sheet almost all the way out the other location, (I usually sail from the aft seat; I keep about 6" of sheet cleated and hanging out in the fore position, so that I can slack tension on the sheet when the aft is cleated and I want to, say, unhook the mainsheet clew hook (the one where the block, er pulley, attaches to clew, er rearmost end, of the sail, surf).

As the only time I would ever need to take the mainsheet line back through the cleat is when replacing it, I was happy to leave the end secured with a simple knot prepared by my dealer. This has gone extremely tight, which is fine by me, as at replacement timde, cutting off the knot is logical. Having bowlines on both ends of the mainsheet must consume a lot of line compzred to simple knots. Do you still have ample to connect to the furling line from the rear seat?

I just tie a simple (but small) overhand loop on the ends

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http://KayakingBob.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2007, 2009 & 2010 Hobie AIs and a 2010 TI

Surferhunterguy;

Tom is right on. I sail from the back or out on the Haka’s, so I have the back seat main sheet tight to the block and use the front cam cleat and use this Sheet-bend knot to tie the reefing line to the main sheet. It has worked well for me for 3 years and is easy to untie when done for the day.



http://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/sheet-bend/

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“Remember life is short- eat dessert first.”
The world is 70% water – So that means we should spend 70% more time sailing than mowing lawns!
Larry

Here's another great site for learning knots.

http://www.animatedknots.com/sheetbend/ ... dknots.com

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SailHo Kentucky
2 AIs - Pro Angler 14 - Outback