Dutchman and new loose-footed main

[John Langford]

Reading the loose footed main thread I remembered that I had not reported on an interesting experiment with my Dutchman system. I found that tightening the Dutchman prior to dropping the sail caused the control lines to pull the foot of my new loose footed main up in an arc even if the outhaul was fairly tight. This caused the sail to fall of the end of the boom when I dropped it. So I unstitched the two Dutchman "envelopes" from the foot of the sail, stitched some light line to the bottom of each one and slid them into the slot on the top of the boom. This allows me to really tighten the Dutchman control lines and now the sail falls properly onto the boom again. When going down wind and freeing up the outhaul, I also loosen off the control lines and this allows the main to assume its more curved shape. I read a note in a recent sailing mag issue that also noted that terminating the control lines on the boom rather than the sail also would allow me to change the control lines so that the sail folded in the opposite way thus reducing dangers associated with always folding the sail the same way. I haven't tried that yet.

[Roc]

Hi John,
Not sure why you say "dangers in folding the sail the same way"....  I thought it helped the Dutchman system work properly if you flake your sail when the sail is new, and keep doing it the same way, so that it creates a "memory".  It will then flake easily every time (that's what happens to my mainsail).  Also, pictures about your loose footed main and the modification you did with the lines attached to the boom would be helpful.  Interested to seeing what you did.

[Clay Greene]

That's a clever idea.  We have an issue with the Dutchman lines pulling up the foot of our loose-footed main when the lines are taut.  How did you secure the Dutchman pockets in the boom track?  I am thinking that a slug might do it like is installed on the clew. 

[John Langford]

I stitched a length of nylon line on to the bottom of each envelope sufficient in diameter to allow it to be retained in the boom slot and thin enough to allow the envelope to still slide along to the appropriate position. Slugs might also work but you would probably need two for each envelope.

As for sail "memory" it may make things neater but it weakens a sail to fold the same way all the time and also would expose the same spots on the sail to UV if the sail was not covered at the end of each sail.

[Roc]

Interesting that you say making a "memory" in the sail is not appropriate, in that it weakens the sail.  I remember my local sail loft told me the Dutchman works best if you "train" your new mainsail to fold a certain way, so it retains a memory.  So when it comes down, it will flake automatically.  No mention of making the sail weaker.

[Mick Laver]

John
This is a great idea. My Dutchman has been problematic ever since I switched to a loose-footed main several years ago. Same issue: I tighten the outhaul and then make the Dutchman lines as taut as possible, but as soon as I release the main halyard the lines go fairly slack. With the old "footed" main the Dutchman lines stayed tight and the sail flaked beautifully.

I'm going to give this a try. I just hope it works on my newer Mk II.  :)

[John Langford]

Roc, perhaps, as in life, the argument is that some training is ok but excessive repetitive training can lead to injury.

[Jim Brener]

My Dutchman pockets are not attached to the sail but slide in the boom track.  Perhaps if you contact Dutchman, they will have pockets that slide on the boom.