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You're ready to go for a sail. The forward hatch is propped open somewhat. You sail away from the mooring with the main up. Then you unfurl the jib. D'OH! The lazy jib sheet snags in the open hatch, just like a jam cleat. See below:
D'OH!
Is there a good way to deal with this (other than leave the hatch closed? I find that once I clear the jam, I don't have any issues when tacking (unless someone lets the jib flog ridiculously on the way around....).
Seems to me this problem is right up there with running aground at least once a season in the Chesapeake Bay, and sucking a jelly fish into a raw water intake. If it doesn't happen occassionaly, you aren't sailing enough. I try not to open my forward hatch until I'm underway... of course I'm just delaying the inevitable.
About 10 years ago, I took some people I worked with sailing after work. Blowing pretty good 18-20 knots. One of the guys I worked with was an "expert" sailor. He tied the jib sheets on for me.
I sail a San Juan 4. These boats use a baby stay to help put some pre-bend in the mast. He routed one jib sheet properly, the other one went between the mast and baby stay, then out to the clew.
I decided to hoist the sails in the harbour (fairly busy, with quite a few boats on the hook). We hoisted with the jib on the "good" side. After beating for a while, I needed to make a short tack to clear the point. The jib sheet got completely snarled in the baby stay, the clew of the sail was on the wrong side of the mast, and we heeled over so far the stanchion bases were under water!
Of course it was race night (we weren't racing, just out for a sail), but with the good winds, there were several dozen racers - "spectators" (of course). We managed to get the jib sheet free, and slunked out of the harbour for a sail.
As nice as it is to keep the airflow through the cabin when under sail, I think it's best to just keep the hatch closed--partly because of the fouling problem, and also because even on a calm day with no seas to worry about, you only need one powerpig wake of uncaring dimensions to plunge your foredeck underwater and allow the water to pour into the cabin.
Yes, I've seen this happen--and on a 47' sailboat, too. It makes quite a mess of things. And at least once a season some boat goes by that makes my bow take on green water as I go through the wake. (I love those friendly powerboaters.) I'm always glad the hatch is closed when this happens.
The option to prevent sheets from snagging, of course, is to install some sort of guard over the hatch that would ensure a snag-free run for any line. I doubt you want this up on the foredeck, though! And the chance that the sheet might snag is just one more reason to avoid the possibility by closing the hatch, in my opinion.
The last thing anyone needs is a preventable snag if some drastic maneuver or some such requires a fast tack, or what have you. That snag could make the difference some day. Worst case scenario? Yeah, admittedly. But the annals of boating lore are full of accidents and mishaps that might have been prevented but for the chain of minor events leading up to the bigger problem.
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Forum Founder--No Longer Participating
I had an easy solution in mind, but then I remembered..... roller furling.
The line gets snagged because the clew starts forward and the lazy sheet gets pulled aft with it as the sail unfurls, right?
I guess your only remedy would be to unfurl halfway, go forward and toss the lazy sheet over the hatch, then launch the rest of the sail.
My hatch is either full-open or full-closed, and full-open catches the sheet every time, so I too sail with the hatch closed unless it's REALLY stinkin hot out. The nicro-vent in my hatch keeps the forepeak well-vented, though.
wait.... I've got it:
If you can predetermine which tack you'll be on when launching the jib, could you slack the lazy sheet and walk it aft on your return trip from the bow after casting off the mooring? Once it's over the top of the hatch, you're golden, right?
Perhaps scrawled across the foredeck with a Sharpie? My messages to myself however, can't be reproduced here on this family oriented forum. Tim can second that, I'm sure.
We get some degree of water on the foredeck almost every time we go out so the forehatch remains closed (Solar Micro vent works fine though and never seems to let water in).
