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Echoing your comment on soft shackles. They require 2 hands to open and close, not fun when you are in a seaway at night on the foredeck.
Hi Robert,
Good point.
Sailing is a series of compromises. I’ve experienced being hit be a soft shackle and a Wichard snap shackle working to control a sail. I am convinced that a soft shackle on a loose footed sail is better. 6mm diameter Dyneema soft shackle breaking strength 4600kg. Weight is about 140 grams.
Hi John,
I agree, it’s all trade offs, and I now use soft shackles on my jib sheets on the J/109 for just that reason, but on the spinnaker the consequence of a sheet coming off is so horrible that I will not take the risk of a soft shackle, particularly since I sometimes set single handed. My thinking is that there is no best, just best for task.
Hi. Can I just ask what’s the benefit of using shackles at all on the jib or genoa sheets? I currently have two sheets, attached with a bowline. They work great except the knots tend to catch a bit on the inner forestay. I am considering switching to a single sheet that’s just cow hitched (?) to the clew to make it smoother to slide over stays and shrouds. Any thoughts? The spinnaker I can’t see any reasonable way to get away from some sort of shackle, but the jib, I never remove the sheets anyway.
Hi Arne,
Good question.
Bowlines are just fine as long as the sheets are Dacron braid. In fact that’s what we did for years, and advise, on the McCurdy and Rhodes 56: https://www.morganscloud.com/2017/12/09/running-rigging-recommendations-part-1/
The issue comes with high modulus line, which I generally don’t recommend for jib sheets for cruising, which must be spliced to be secure.
Hi John,
I use the Wichard HR Trigger series on spinnaker sheets and halyards and only have good things to say about them. For the same reasons as you and others, I too use soft shackles on the jib, but not on the flying headsails.
To build on your remarks and reinforce your recommendations, one anecdote springs to mind…
Racing on a SunFast 3200, we were running with the light spinnaker just 10 miles from the finish line of a 100 mile leg. Night fell, the wind and sea built progressively to 15 knots, competitors were within reach and we kept the light kite. The wind rapidly strengthened to 25 knots and dousing was suddenly long overdue – our first attempt looked just perfect until in the dark and building seas, one crew grabbed the clew and accidentally released the top-pictured Wichard snap-shackle. Our skipper – your kind of experience racing offshore as a bowman – got us out of the snag and ahead of other boats, but it was a tense moment.
So I would suggest adding another tip: “Never use a shackle on a spinnaker that has any chance of being triggered accidentally when handling the sail”.
Hi Jean-Louis,
Thanks for the endorsement on the Wichard HR. Good to hear it has worked well for you. Also good point on the danger of some shackles releasing when grabbed. I had not really thought of that one, but now you point it out, it makes total sense.