Tack wraps around the bowsprit

[clueless 0]

Recently we started to have the tack being wrap around the bowsprit (see the picture). Any idea why and how to avoid it? 

 

[longy 457]

In spite of quite a few years doing bow on 120's, don't recall that issue. Maybe just your bowperson needs to be a bit more observant before the hoist?

[Varan 1,693]

Pull the slack out of the tack before you gybe, then re-ease.

[Varan 1,693]

Option 2, ditch the block, which in the light air shown, wants to flop down when the kite is unloaded, taking the tack with it. Or add an elastomer standup.

[Varan 1,693]

Option 3, replace that 11 year old kite with a new, lighter one.

If the issue is on hoists, make sure the retrieval bungies are not twisted. Is so, undo tack and twist pole in 360 degree increments to untwist. Also, keep the tack on the boat (inside pulpit) when not in use.

Okay, enough advice, I need another beer.

[Stu McCrea 1]

Varan is correct, if you have too much slack in the tack line, i.e. floating then you will likely wrap it. Also found using a block on end of sprit made the issue worse. A dyneema lashed hard ring did work better.

[Snowden 278]

On 12/20/2020 at 9:34 PM, Varan said:

Option 2, ditch the block, which in the light air shown, wants to flop down when the kite is unloaded, taking the tack with it. Or add an elastomer standup.

yeah, and you could try replacing with a low friction ring for a wider range of angles before the block capsizes

[IMR 53]

ditch the block, polish the u bolt and just run the tack line directly to the u bolt. 

[WHK 66]

I removed the u-bolt which when I purchased the boat from the previous owner had already started electrolysis on the carbon sprit.  Additionally, the floppy block on the u-bolt made chips in the gelcoat on the bow where the sprit was retracted.  The fix was to build a Delrin "sandwich" and use an Antal R20.20 low friction ring.  The bolts through the pole holding the Antal rings and sandwich compressed were covered with heat shrink so there could be no stainless to carbon contact.

Pictures below.  The added benefit is the tack under the pole problem seems like it would be prevented by this setup.

[Gouvernail 2,703]

No idea how this happens or why.

There are things my teammates absolutely do NOT need to know.  I shall not even MENTION such a screw up couid possibly exist. 

[11235 11]

On 12/22/2020 at 2:19 PM, IMR said:

ditch the block, polish the u bolt and just run the tack line directly to the u bolt. 

I might advise against this. On my J/109 I tried this, and the load on the tack line as it abruptly made the 90 degree turn around the SS was too much for the tack line and it blew up at a VERY inopportune moment!!

Instead, I suggest a modification like the picture below, which is how my J/112E came from the factory. This has worked very well (no wraps of the tack line around the sprit) and I would think it would be pretty easy to retrofit the right Antal ring into your existing u-bolt. On the J/112E it is the Antal 14X10 part.

 

[IMR 53]

1 hour ago, 11235 said:

I might advise against this. On my J/109 I tried this, and the load on the tack line as it abruptly made the 90 degree turn around the SS was too much for the tack line and it blew up at a VERY inopportune moment!!

Instead, I suggest a modification like the picture below, which is how my J/112E came from the factory. This has worked very well (no wraps of the tack line around the sprit) and I would think it would be pretty easy to retrofit the right Antal ring into your existing u-bolt. On the J/112E it is the Antal 14X10 part.

 

We used just the ss u bolt polished on the 125 the last two seasons. Didn’t break a tack line during ca coastal cup, so cal 300 or Transpac. We had the a7 up in 35 tws. 

[Captain Jack Sparrow 76]

The fairlead ring on the sprit seems to be the best solution (whether lashed to the U-bolt or inserted into it, as shown above). Cost effective, and simple. That being said, any of the mentioned solutions may not solve the issue,  which may be a "software" (crew) problem rather than hardware problem. 

If the crew work is the issue, I'd suggest 1) making sure the sprit is oriented correctly (unlikely thats the culprit),  2) on the hoist, keeping some tension in the tackline as the sail goes up (also probably not the issue), and 3) on gybes, take any slack out of the tack line. 

#3 is likely the biggest culprit if this just started happening, and in addition to preventing foul-ups on the sprit, having full luff tension will make the A-sail invert and refill faster during inside gybes. Not bringing the tack line in during a gybe is just asking for trouble. 

[T sailor 47]

These are all interesting.  Is anyone running 2 tack lines to do peels?

 

 

[Roleur 281]

10 hours ago, T sailor said:

These are all interesting.  Is anyone running 2 tack lines to do peels?

 

 

We did on our 120, but mostly to have a 2:1 tackline for the A0.  

On our 111 we peel by having a strop around the sprit with a tylaska shackle that can be released under load.  Hoist with the tack attached to the strop.  Douse the old kite and transfer the new tack to the tackline. Not as elegant as two tacklines, but much easier to implement. 

[TyeDyedGary 3]

  As someone who did bow for many years on a 105, your problem is timing. The helmsman needs to watch how fast the sail is pulled across, and time the turn accordingly. Also the release and the speed the sail comes across are important to preventing the tack line from looping under the bowsprit. Looping under the bowsprit can happen in fast and slow turns, and pulling in the tack line dose not stop the sail from looping under the bowsprit, it is all timing of where the sail is in the turn. And only practice will work out that problem.    

[IMR 53]

On 12/27/2020 at 9:44 AM, T sailor said:

These are all interesting.  Is anyone running 2 tack lines to do peels?

 

 

We ran two tacklines on the ss u bolt.  We started Transpac with one tackline set up as a 2:1 for a reaching MHG. We had the second line run for the first peel to a soft a3. Then we sent the bow guy out of the sprit to remove the soft shackle on the 2:1 tackline so we could peel the a2.5.