mainsail, line coming down mainsail

[Macsailing]

Greetings, I am new to the forum and a 2010 Macgregor 26m. I must apologize if I get some of the technical terminology wrong, not sure what everything is yet.

It sails great, however, there is a small black line running down the middle of the mainsail and i don't know what it is. It is through a grommet at the top and tied to the the little white line running up the sail. It goes down about 6 feet, and with a loop is tied again to the little whit line, then goes all the way to the bottom of the sail. It seems to get tangled and prevent the sail from flattening all the way. I think it even prevents the sail from going all the way up.

1. What is this line for?
2. What are the little white lines for?

Thank you, Scott

[Jimmyt]

Greetings, I am new to the forum and a 2010 Macgregor 26m. I must apologize if I get some of the technical terminology wrong, not sure what everything is yet.

It sails great, however, there is a small black line running down the middle of the mainsail and i don't know what it is. It is through a grommet at the top and tied to the the little white line running up the sail. It goes down about 6 feet, and with a loop is tied again to the little whit line, then goes all the way to the bottom of the sail. It seems to get tangled and prevent the sail from flattening all the way. I think it even prevents the sail from going all the way up.

1. What is this line for?
2. What are the little white lines for?

Thank you, Scott

Scott,
Welcome to the forum, and thanks for participating!

If the lines were lower on the sail, I'd suspect they were part of a reefing system. However, those appear to go way up on the sail. Also, without seeing where the lines go, and the connections you are referencing, it's hard for me to envision what the purpose might be.

My initial reaction is to suggest you remove them. If you don't know what to do with them, and they are negatively impacting sail shape, it makes no sense to have them.

I've seen single line reefing setups before, and this doesn't seem to fit that. If the grommets ran the height of the sail, I might suspect some sort of sail stacking/auto-flaking setup. But, it doesn't look like that, either. So, I'm stumped, too.

Maybe someone else has seen something like this. If not, remove it, and go sailing.

Again, welcome.

Jim

[NiceAft]

Might it be a downhall? We can’t see where that line ends, but it just might be someone’s creative downhall?

[NiceAft]

By the way Scott,

You mention not being familiar with some terms, don’t worry, most of us don’t know them all.

This may start you on your way to nautical nomenclature bliss. https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice/ex ... ncorrectly

[NiceAft]

https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice/ex ... ncorrectly


Study; Russ gives quizzes in the morning

[Macsailing]

Thanks for the replies.

Todd at Blue Water Yachts identified it right off. It is a topping lift part of an EZ Main system for lowering the sail while it folds automatically.

It has just been rigged wrong. The bottom end should be on the boom, and the top end should have a topping lift halyard.

Thanks, Scott

[PhysicsTeacher]

Todd and Cheryl and Blue Water Yachts are just the BEST! Friendly service and unbelievably knowledgeable about Macs.

[NiceAft]

Thanks for the replies.

Todd at Blue Water Yachts identified it right off. It is a topping lift part of an EZ Main system for lowering the sail while it folds automatically.

It has just been rigged wrong. The bottom end should be on the boom, and the top end should have a topping lift halyard.

Thanks, Scott

Now that it has been identified, a tip on using it. Before raising the main, use that topping lift to raise the boom a bit. This will allow the main to be raised fully without resistance in those last few inches to the top of the mast.

Also use the topping lift to raise the boom when lowering the main; this will also relieve lateral stress so the main drops easier.

[Macsailing]

thank you for the advice.

More than likely the first time i will just roll around on the deck wrapped in line, might as well get it out of the way!

[Macsailing]

Niceaft,

do you happen to know the lengths of the lines in the EZ main system?

topping lift halyard
deckline
messenger line for trailering

thanks, Scott

[NiceAft]

Scott,

I only have a halyard for raising the main and a topping lift. For ease of sailing, I rigged all lines (Main, topping lift, dagger board, rollerfurler for the Genoa) to go aft to the cockpit. I do not know what the EZ system and messenger line are.

Who knows; I might just not be familiar with the nomenclature.

By the way, where is Valley Center

[Stickinthemud57]

Todd and Cheryl and Blue Water Yachts are just the BEST! Friendly service and unbelievably knowledgeable about Macs.

+1!!!!

[Jimmyt]

Niceaft,

do you happen to know the lengths of the lines in the EZ main system?

topping lift halyard
deckline
messenger line for trailering

thanks, Scott

Scott,

You are the first to post about the EZ Main setup as far as I can recall. That is not a standard setup. A lot of members have lazy jacks.

I’ll be interested to see if others respond to your inquiry. I’m curious to see how it works. I tried searching for a setup diagram, briefly, with no success. I did find this info, which seems to be for a similar system. https://dutchmar.com/wp-content/uploads ... aftpdf.pdf

Got invited to go fish boat sailing, so you can guess what happened next.



Anyway, hope someone else out there has one so they can help you set it up. You might be able to get some instructions from BWYachts.

[Macsailing]

Jimmy,

Todd at blue water yachts sent me the info on the EZ main system.

It seems like a great system. Topper lift stays up while the mainsail slides down the flaking strings.

Not sure how to post the PDF here.

[Russ]

You can attach a .PDF by clicking the "Attachments" tab under the edit window.