Gaff mainsail fitting

[@hilaryboyd8009]

been lacing my gunter rig the wrong way for years thanks for teaching me

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Your welcome

[@ParabrisasMotocicletas]

I really love your videos. So much educational. Thank you, captain, for sharing.

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Well that just makes it all worth while making them, thanks very much mike

[@funkyfender1]

What an excellent and clear step by step instructional guide. Thanks for sharing your knowledge complete with tips. I have just got my first gaff cutter. A Cape Cutter 19, and I’m really looking forward to getting her out onto the water… the gaff lashing and luff/mast lashing are most helpful. I’d have ended up with spiral loops without having seen your demonstration and narrative. Beautiful boat too! Thanks very much 👍🏼

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Your welcome lm a cape cutter fan and have been close to owning one a couple of times. Fast fun easy to handle gaffer, have a great season mike

[@ralph6115]

Great video, well explained and so very instructive. Thanks!

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Hi Ralph, if you picked up one thing then it was well worth making. Regards mike

[@ajax1137]

I'm helping a friend rig his small, new-to-him catboat and this will be very helpful as neither of us have ever done a gaff rig.

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Hi Ajax, well it's just one sail so good luck mike

[@dhouse-d5l]

Just what we needed for our new Crabber 17. Grt vid, very well explained, thanks skipper!

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Well designed little crabber, I’ve had one in the past and found it well balanced with a decent amount of ballast making her well stable in a dinghy gale. Enjoy mike

[@dave_ecclectic]

if you're worried about burning though the varnish just place your hand, palm up, over the gaff and now you can pull the line with no damage to the varnish.

[@mynextketchfrontier6351]

I’ve been looking for this specific clip for ages an finally found one just for my needs thank you Sir !!! That was very informative I have to do my Tahiti ketch main sails Nd had no idea how to go about it till now!! Cheers mate !!

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Welcome, glad to be of assistance mike

[@furphyman]

I’ve just done my Tahiti ketch sails as well. Thanks Mike

[@MikeFloutier]

Wonderful video,thank you! ⛵️🍾❤️

[@sailingcosiloveit]

From one mike to another your very welcome 👍

[@daviddickmeyer5231]

Beautiful job. Thanks for the great video!

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Your welcome David 👍

[@chrisroberts290]

excellent tutorial. I shared with Crabbers who give it the thumbs up too

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Hi Chris, thanks for sharing, most kind of you mike

[@chriscummins261]

Great video and I will be following your guidance tomorrow, thanks you are a star

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Cheers Chris, a star ⭐️ thanks mike

[@swsfrancais7289]

Outstanding Mike. So. Ready for a season of adventures. Looking forward to following your wake in future vids. Regards & respect from France.

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Here’s hoping it’s a better season than the last one, thanks for your comment I hope I provide mike

[@pocketcruisersailing]

Great Job Mike!

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Cheers 🍻

[@glendree1]

Thanks for the clear instruction, now i know what ive been doing wrong...

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Gavin your very welcome mike

[@ANANDA_SAILING]

Great video ! Thank you

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Glad you liked it!👍

[@mark-3466]

Thanks a really well explained video.

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Cheers Mark

[@fernandopratesi5378]

Immensely helpful and enjoyable

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Well thank you very much 👍

[@nasseemmuttur778]

Hello from Mauritius. Very interesting lesson. Am planning to build a small sailboat with gaff rigging. No experience in sailing yet. Would appreciate you make a video on reefing. Thnx.

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Watch “Sailing east Anglesey “ for tips on reefing mike

[@ubigroup41]

Thank you very much!

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Welcome mike

[@markchodroff250]

Very good , Informative

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Cheers 🍻

[@ianswales7219]

Hi thanks for clear and really informative video and curbed me from my habit of over tensioning bits and bobs. Was wondering about the lacing going from goose neck up the mast would it be possible to do it in sections between reefing points to avoid slack being induced when reefed. Been a while since I been on a gaff rigged boat and do enjoy getting my fix from watching you on your fine ship. Cheers Ian

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Hi Ian the lacing up the mast on the luff is only to help you keep the sail in place as it is lowered. It shouldn’t carry any sail weight when in use. The sail should be taut between the tack and the peak and not require any lacing assistance. Similar to a tach and an out haul on a boom don’t require assistance from reefing lashings. Hope that’s clear for you if not please let me know. Regards mike

[@ianswales7219]

@@sailingcosiloveit Thanks Mike makes sense and clear ,like I said still trying to get out of my over tensioning habit and looking to go back to a small gaffer from Bermudan rig so enjoy gleaning info from your videos, One other quick observation I notice some gaffers dont seem to have a kicker and some do what's your take on this as a bit confused. Cheers Ian

[@sailingcosiloveit]

With a gaff main if it has a standing yard then the twist will be minimal requiring a kicker. If the yard has an angle over 30 degrees then it will twist lovely and will have minimal requirements for a kicker. Hope this helps mike

[@ianswales7219]

@@sailingcosiloveit Cheers again Mike it helps getting my head around it .

[@jonathancarretero3842]

Hi and thanks for a clearly explained tutorial, my one question is, how and where did you make off the line that holds the luff to the mast? Cheers, Jon.

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Hi Jonathan make off at throat and tack cringles mike

[@jonathancarretero3842]

@@sailingcosiloveit great, thanks.

[@psystealth]

noice.... well done matey

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Cheers 👍

[@de_Marco]

great vid Mike. That will help a lot soon ;-) It seems to me you do not use the clamcleat which is available on the boom for fixing the clew outhaul; any reason for that (or do you)?

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Good question, I do but find it difficult to line this cleat up from the mast even with the line extended. Really need to move it closer to the mast. This is a job on my list. I find you mostly want to make adjustments when the boom is out or you are at the mast anyway. The fault with the factory fitted cleat is that you can’t reach it when at the mast or the boom is out. I do my reefing for 1 & 2 at the mast as well. I don’t get on very well with the single line reefing. I have been thinking of running the outhaul back to the cockpit. This is work on the go.

[@de_Marco]

@@sailingcosiloveit food for thought; thanks Mike! I have another question for you. Do you have any experience with lowering the mast and getting it back up again? I will soon put mine up for the first time. I have some doubt about doing it by hand as indicated in the owner's manual or use a crane. Also do you have any idea about the tension that should be applied to the shrouds? I found no information about that.

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Hi ye I’ve used the tabernacle to lower my mast it worked well. I did though use a fence post with a hole in for the fulcrum instead of the bowsprit. I also made a gallows for the mast to come down on a the stern. This was just to 3x2 crossed. The hardest part is just before the mast gets to the gallows as it wants to drop at this point. From 20 degrees to vertical is easy. So make tall gallows. I’ve done this on the water in a marina which I think works best as you can use a step ladder to lower off the pontoon with ease. The rigging on mine is not set loaded as with a gauge. It’s quite heavy rigging and to load it would cause damage I’m sure. Set mine hand tight on the turnbuckles then when out sailing add half a turn to each buckle if wire is loose on leeward side until 90 percent of the slack has gone. Hope this helps mike

[@de_Marco]

@@sailingcosiloveit Thanks for all the help Mike. I used two old carbon fibre (surfboard) masts connected with a lashing to push the mast up to about 45°, after that it was easy using the jib halyard. Your video helped a lot at rigging the mainsail and I will come back to it to further fine tune it. For now, we had a successful launch and shake down trip to her new berth. If you like, I made a short video impression (rest assured, I have no intentions to compete with your youtube channel ;-) Please feel free to remove this link if you think it is inappropriate (I found no way to send it in a private message): kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXOmgWeEjsqti7s

[@liam_808]

Would have loved to have seen what you did with your reefing lines. Why did you not bother with them?

[@sailingcosiloveit]

Hi Liam, ye I do use reefing lines on gaff rigs. My favoured way is to tie off on the boom. Just back from the goose neck I would cleat off the tack and just behind that I would cleat off the clew for the first reef. This is by far the easiest way to reef a gaff and all without leaving the mast. I would then tie the sail tidies under the sail and Not the boom. Gaffs are the easiest mains to reef and cos they are normally generous sails the most rewarding. Kind regards mike

[@liam_808]

@@sailingcosiloveit Many thanks Mike, I thought you must have, but could not see them. BTW I think your video must be the only useful one on the internet about how to rig a gaff mainsail. After years of running one up a groove in the mast, it was a bit of a palava for me.