Jib Rope Clutch

Bill Martinelli, Voyager, #11

(Click on picture for full size)

We generally sail shorthanded and after awhile I got tired of having to go downwind to reef the 135% genoa. Our furling line for the genoa came back through a block on the toe rail and then fastened to a cleat. The problem was once the genoa was reefed I couldn't easily reef an additional amount without blanketing or luffing the sail. The reason being once I got the line off the cleat I either couldn't hold it or couldn't pull hard enough by hand for additional reefing.

By adding a rope clutch I now have the ability to turn upwind a bit, ease the load on the sail and reef the sail by just pulling on the line.

The pulling can be either by hand or via winch as shown in the photos. When winching the line uses the #66 winch as a guide. On a port tack the lines run next to each other but that has not proved to be a problem.