sailboat jib luff

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The Most Important Parts of a Sail

There are a lot of important parts of a sailboat , but none more important and unique as the sail. Parts of a sail have different names and uses depending on whether you have a mainsail, headsail/jib, Genoa sail, Spinnaker sail, or Gennaker sail.

So what are the parts of a sail? For a mainsail, the parts of a sail include the

• Slides and bolt rope
• Track slides
• Reef cringle
• Reef points

For a headsail or jib, the parts of a sail include the

Piston Hanks

Some of these parts of a sail have strange names, but each definitely serves an important purpose. Being able to identify these parts and learn what they’re used for will not only improve your sailing terminology but also your effectiveness as a sailboat captain or crew member.

The mainsail on a sailboat serves as an important part of a sailboat since it’s the part that acts like the sailboat’s “engine”.

Of course, this is the type of engine doesn’t need any gas or petroleum. Depending on the wind strength and direction while you’re out on the water, you’ll need to adjust the mainsail from time to time to catch the wind just right.

Whenever you have the mainsail up and you have to make these adjustments, you’ll need to be aware of the different parts of a sail and what purpose they serve.

Most of the time you’ll be operating a sailboat with a sloop rig (or a Bermudan rig), which is exactly what we’re going to dive into!

The head of a sail is a part of a sail that’s located at the very top. With this part of a sail being at the top corner of the sail, it’s usually connected to the mast.

When you have a triangular mainsail, this kind of head is what you’ll expect to see.

If your sailboat has a square mainsail, the two uppermost corners will be referred to as the head cringles where there are grommets called cringles.

These cringles will most likely be attached to a peak and throat, which is a part of the mast that sticks outward.

Slides & Bolt Rope

When it comes to controlling the height of your mainsail when reefing it, your mainsail will either be attached to slides or a bolt rope.

Choosing between these two types of parts of a sail are debated back and forth among sailors, so it’s important to know the difference.

Slides are probably the easiest to maintain and control when moving your sail up and down the mast.

Essentially, you connect your sail to the slides and they move along the mast. However, one of the downsides is that it’s more likely that wind will get through the open spaces between your sail and the mast.

A bolt rope is popular among sailors who are active racers because it removes the gaps between the sail and the mast by integrating the sail within the mast.

There’s actually a rope that’s sewn into the sail so that it can fit within a groove built into the mast.

The downside to having a bolt rope is that it’s not uncommon for your sail to jam with moving it up and down the mast. Trust me, that’s no fun especially at the wrong times.

The luff is a part of a sail that’s located between the head and the tack of a sail.

This part of a sail is where your slides or bolt rope will be located as well, which means it’s always attached to either the mast or a stay.

Quick note: technically, the luff is said to be located at the forward (leading) edge of a sail. When sailing, you’ll hear the term “luffing” from time to time, which means your sail starts flapping a bit instead of being tight.

Your sail will start luffing when your sailboat is steered too close toward the direction of the wind (windward) or when your sail is past optimal trim. Whenever this happens, you usually want to alter your point of sail, else trim your sail.

The tack is the part of a sail that’s placed at the bottom corner of a sail which is between the luff and the foot.

This part of a sail is directly connected to the mast and boom of your sailboat as well. On any kind of sail, the tack is always located at the lower forward corner of the sail.

You’ll hear the term “tacking” whenever you’re on a sailboat, however this has to do more with an action being performed on a sailboat and not the part of a sail called the tack.

Tacking is when you’re redirecting your sailboat when your sailboat is heading into the wind (windward).

The foot is a part of a sail that’s located at the very bottom of the sail and thus in-between the tack and the clew. The foot is directly connected to the boom of the sailboat and is attached using track slides.

Honestly, there’s not much to talk about when it comes to the foot, which makes it more a basic term used for a part of a sail.

On a headsail or jib, the foot isn’t attached to the boom as it’s at the fore of the mast and is stabilized by the clew being attached to sheets and the tack attached to a forestay.

Track Slides

Similar to the slides found on the luff of a sail, track slides are parts of a sail that are used to connect the foot of the sail to the boom of the sailboat. Usually these are attached through the use of grommets that are connected to the boom.

It’s not too often that you’ll need to adjust these track slides since most of the time the foot of the sail doesn’t move toward or away from the mast.

However, it does allow for the sail to move around freely without any restricts and it makes it easier to change out sails.

On the opposite side of the tack and along the foot, you’ll find the part of a sail called the clew.

Now, the clew is located on the aft (backend) part of a sail and sits between the foot and the leech. The clew is movable and is directly connected to the boom toward the stern of a sailboat.

On a headsail or jib, the clew is connected to two sheets that are usually attached to cam cleats located on port or starboard of your sailboat.

Adjusting the jib with these sheets is common when both tacking or jibing as well as when your jib’s luffing.

The leech is the part of a sail that’s located between the head and clew, which is also the longest edge and located on the aft of a sail. This part of a sail will bend based on the strength of the wind hitting the sail.

If the leech doesn’t have the proper amount of tension, it will likely start to flutter and cause a noticeable sound.

This is mainly due to the fact that the leech is an arch and not a straight edge. After sailing for some time, you’ll be able to recognize this sound and tend to respond by tightening the leech line.

A batten is an important part of a sail as it helps create an efficient airfoil shape of the sail so that it provides a similar function to a wing on an airplane.

Since the leech is arched and not perfectly straight, the battens help to support the shape of the sail when the wind hits it.

These battens or stiffeners sewn into pockets can either be just at the trailing edge leech of the sail or can extend right across the sail.

Having full-length battens that extend right across the sail helps the sail hold the shape better.

Reef Cringle

Reef cringles are a part of a sail that is located on the bottom of the leech and luff.

There are usually two or three sets of reef cringles, which are attached to sheets that are used to pull down the sail when reefing. The main purpose of reef cringles is to be able to pull down your sail to reach the proper reef setting.

Reef Points

Just like the reef cringles, reef points are a part of a sail used when reefing your sail.

After you’ve reefed your sail by pulling it down using the sheets attached to the reef cringles, you’ll want to secure your sail to the boom using the reef points.

You can do this by simply tying the points straight to the boom.

Headsail/Jib

Just like the mainsail, the headsail (or jib) has a head, leech, clew, foot, and tack.

Any of the difference between the mainsail and jib were mentioned in the mainsail section, so I’ll bring up the unique parts of a sail that is specific to a headsail or jib.

The luff wire is a part of a sail that’s located on the luff of a headsail which is attached to a forestay.

Simply put, the luff wire is a metallic wire that’s inserted along the leading edge of the luff. This is a necessary part of a sail so that the headsail can stay firmly intact.

Piston hanks are a part of the sail that keeps the headsail or jib firmly attached to the forestay.

These are usually made out of either metal or plastic and are designed to be easily removed using your hands. They are, however, firmly connected to the jib usually via a connector to a cringle.

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Sail dimensions are specific for every boat and each of them have maximum sail dimensions that cannot be exceeded. In order to properly measure your dimensions you will need to establish the P, E, J, and I of your boat. 

A few terms to help you measure the sails are the luff, the leach/leech, and the foot. The luff is the sail’s forward edge. It is the side attached to the mast. The leach/leech is the back edge of a sail, the one not attached to the mast. And the foot is the bottom edge of a sail.

In addition, it is also helpful to know the location of the head, the tack, and the clew. The head is the top left corner of the sail which attaches to the top of the mast. The tack is the bottom left corner of the sail. And finally the clew, is the bottom right corner of the sail.

If you are looking for a mainsail for sale , you will need to know the P and E dimensions. The “P” measurement (also known as the Luff) is the distance from highest point that the mainsail can be hoisted to the top surface of the boom. The “E” measurement (also known as the foot) is the distance along the boom from the mast to the point on the boom to which the mainsail can be pulled. Occasionally you may also want to measure the Leach/Leech of the mainsail. This is the point from the highest point that the mainsail can be hoisted on the mast, to the furthest point on the boom that the mainsail can be pulled to. Make sure you note the minimum and maximum measurements your boat will allow. 

If you are looking for a headsail you will need to know the I and the J measurements. The “I” is the distance down the front of the mast from the halyard to the level of the main deck (the luff), and “J” is the distance along the deck from the tack to the front of the mast. 

A jib is a triangular staysail set in front of the mast. With a jib headsail, the J measurement is typically 80-90% of the I measurement. This is because the foot usually overlaps the mainsail a bit. 

A genoa is a large jib that overlaps the mainsail. Genoas are categorized based on the amount they extend past the mainsail. For instance a 135% genoa has a foot 35% longer than ‘J’ and a 155% genoa has a foot 55% longer.

Finally, we have measurements for spinnakers . You will need to know the I and the J for these sails. “I” is the distance from the highest part of the spinnaker to the deck, and “J” is the length of the spinnaker pole.

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• Thread starter DannyS
• Start date Feb 18, 2014
• Forums for All Owners
• Ask All Sailors

We're in major need of a new headsail and I'm looking at a couple of online sail lofts for an idea of what I'll need to spend (including right here). Some lofts offer a foam luff to take up some sail when reefing the sail. Not all lofts offer this option and I'm wondering just how effective this really is. I'm not a fan of reefing the headsail because of the loss of shape so for me, the sail is either in or out. This is mostly because our current sail is so blown out that even one roll destroys our sail shape. I have a 155% right now but I'm looking at a 130% so hopefully I can keep the sail up just a bit more when the wind comes up. So, how many of you have the foam luff and is it worth it?  

Danny, Will the ice ever melt??? We have a foam luff on our cruising 140% genoa on Kestrel. Its a Neil Pryde performance dacron sail. The foam does a good job of flattening the belly of the remaining sail when it rolled to about 105%. That helps in the higher wind speeds you see when you put the sail in that configuration. Like you I'm not a big fan of using a partially rolled sail. 95% of the time when cruising we have our 105% blade jib up anyway; the boat is fast enough with that sail in any conditions where we would not be motoring anyway. So to me it would depend on if you would use the sail rolled. If you would, its a good idea. If you never do that, its just extra cost, and it does affect the shape of the sail's entry into the wind.  

Sandy Stone

I had a 155 built with a foam luff and I never thought it helped very much. Maybe with a smaller or flatter cut sail, I don't know.  

I had it on my two previous boats, 30 and 31 feet respectively. It worked well taking up about 25% of the headsail and not so much after that. Not on my current boat but am thinking about adding it-not a high priority.  

I had one on a previous boat, on our 150 and it did a great job. We actually had two 150s on that boat, one with a foam luff the other without. The 150 without the foam luff was terrible when partially furled (big belly of loose cloth in the middle and very tight on the leech and foot.) The 150 with the foam loff furled nicely and kept its shape quite well no matter how much was furled. One we replace the Genoa on our current boat, I will make sure it has a foam luff. Given the variety of responses you have received, I would venture to say that the evffectiveness may depend on how good a job the sailmaker does in making sure the shape and thickness of the foam luff is correct for the sail. Cheers Matt  

I have the NP OEM 150% Genoa w/foam luff. Very effective, definitely worth it. A 110 would be nice, but in reality, taking down and storing a genoa is a pain, so the foam luff is a good compromise.  

In my opinion, there are 3 things needed for roller furling and reefing headsails 1) UV protection, either colored Sunbrella on the leech and foot, or a sock 2) Reef point reinforcement patches on the leech and foot corresponding with common reef points. For a 135% genoa, I'd probably go about 110% and 90%. 3) Foam in the luff, to take up some bagginess when reefed. If you don't include reef point reinforcements, you can be sure you will prematurely stretch out your headsail if you reef it. Notice I said for a furling and reefing headsail… Some folks have roller furling, and prefer to swap out headsails, rather than reef on the furler. If you chose that route, and just used your furler for furling, then you could dispense with the foam luff and reef points. In this scenario, it would probably be best to have a colored Sunbrella or Weathermax sock for the headsail, rather than having UV protectant strips on all of your headsails. I have seen photos of headsails "protected" with white Sunbrella strips. The stitching and sailcloth underneath the protectant strips have failed more quickly than the rest of the sail, indicating that white Sunbrella does not protect from UV as well as colored Sunbrella.  

Brian S said: I have seen photos of headsails "protected" with white Sunbrella strips. The stitching and sailcloth underneath the protectant strips have failed more quickly than the rest of the sail, indicating that white Sunbrella does not protect from UV as well as colored Sunbrella. Click to expand

Have foam luff on genny and love it. I'll suggest that just having the foam sewn into the luff may not be all that is necessary for it to furl/reef properly. The furler mechanism has something to do with how the sail shapes. With our Furlex 101 unit it starts wrapping up the sail in the middle, or belly and then wraps then ends (after one revolution). This seems to really help the shape of the reefed sail.  

Jackdaw said: This was more likely UV-resistant dacron, which is available only in white. It is not nearly as sun resistant as Sunbrella, but it weights about 1/4 of what sunbrella weights, and is nowhere near as stiff. A much better choice for high performance sails. In northern climes it can last the life of the sail, but down south you have to watch it carefully as it does degrade. Click to expand

Warren Milberg

I've ordered a foam luff when I bought my 155 % furling/reefing genoa from Air Force. I think it was a waster of money. As others have noted, the type of furler you have may be more important. I have a Furlex 200 and it will wrap my other headsail ,that does not have a foam luff, quite tightly without any bellowing anywhere. I have also been able to wrap the sail without the foam luff to just about any size I need and the boat still points well. I would not buy a foam luff again.  

Brian S said: Jackdaw, you are wise in the ways of sailing (and racing that pretty Blue J), and I respect so much of what you say. For example, I never knew about Dacron UV panels on sails. I'm surely not saying that you are incorrect on the Dacron panels. Here on Pineapple Sails' site, where they show the extra wear, they do say that it's white Sunbrella http://www.pineapplesails.com/articles/border/whiteborder.htm I only stress this, because some folks may not be aware when they choose the white Sunbrella, and I seek to edumacate 'em Then again, I see folks at my lake that don't even have any Sunbrella on their furling headsail I think I'd be more inclined to use a sock, only because we get a lot of light winds, and I wouldn't want to weigh down my jib unnecessarily with the UV strip. As it is now, I don't have roller furling; I only have a hank on jib which I put in a deck bag. It's kind of a bummer, as I realize I'm crinkling up my jib a bit, but I also don't sweat it, because it's not a racing sail or a racing boat The deck bag is easier for me than hanking and unhanking that jib. I started out trailering the smaller boat to the lake, and having to step the mast and rig. Then, I started keeping it at the lake with the mast up, but still having to rig and bend on sails. Then I got the bigger boat, and it was so quick and easy to head out for a sail, but for hanking on the jib. Now, I've got the deck bag, and I guess the next step will be a Schaefer Snap-Furl, and a 135% genoa, if I choose to get spendy Click to expand

Hmmmm, so, no consensus here huh?I think for the extra $150 (a bargain by B.O.A.T. standards) I may give it a go since I have heard very little negatives as far as sail performance goes. I'd like to think that when things start going to hell, I could roll the sail up a bit and keep on sailing. The only reason I've never done that is because when we bought the boat 7 or 8 years ago, we needed a new headsail, and I'm just now getting around to replacing it. The sail never reefed well so I've just gotten used to all up or all down. I actually bought an ATN Gale Sail to use when the wind pipes up. I use that sail at least a few times a year and I love what kind of wind that sail allows us to sail in.  

DannyS said: Hmmmm, so, no consensus here huh?I think for the extra $150 (a bargain by B.O.A.T. standards) I may give it a go since I have heard very little negatives as far as sail performance goes. I'd like to think that when things start going to hell, I could roll the sail up a bit and keep on sailing. The only reason I've never done that is because when we bought the boat 7 or 8 years ago, we needed a new headsail, and I'm just now getting around to replacing it. The sail never reefed well so I've just gotten used to all up or all down. I actually bought an ATN Gale Sail to use when the wind pipes up. I use that sail at least a few times a year and I love what kind of wind that sail allows us to sail in. Click to expand

Dave Groshong

It really does help the sail shape when reefing, we offer a rope luff in place of the foam, it's stiffer and lasts longer, some foam has a tendency to rot: http://shop.sailboatowners.com/detail-sails.htm  

Jackdaw, that's exaclty it, the sail may be original to the boat (1985 vintage) and it's been blown out for years which is why I stopped trying to reef it. It's time for a change and there's nothing like a snowstorm on the doorstep to get me thinking of buying sails for a summer that seems a long way off! Dave, good to know about the foam, I'd rather buy from youz guys anyway!  

I had a CDI furler in my last boat and no foam luff. Sail shape upon furling was not pretty. I was amazed at the difference the foam luff and having a top swivel made on furled shape. UV white Dacron will not last the life of a sail even here in the NE. I would especially avoid it on larger genoas where the leach can rub a spreader unintentionally. Mine wore right through. Fortunately I used some of that adhesive backed material from sailrite to repair it. Needless to say some sort of chafe guard would be worth considering too. Think about the cut also. I like to be able to see under the genoa and the loss of a foot or so of material at the base is a performance trade off I will take for the ability to keep a better lookout under sail.  

Kings Gambit

The Big Question Mark? Why do we purchase roller furling for the jib to begin with? Just to get away from hanked on sails; or to just get away from having to reserve room below deck for sail storage? Roller furling w/o functional roller reefing is what the waste of money is in my view. The whole point of roller furling/reefing is that you do not have to carry a full inventory of sails to go cruising; or even racing. One head sail can be used through a range of wind strengths IF the thing can be reefed down and still perform adequately. Without a foam luff built in, it simply cannot do that. If you want a heavy, expensive, high windage foil on which to hoist a head sail with its foot two feet above the deck (loss of sail area), and all you can do with it is roll it out all the way, or roll it in all the way, then I'm stumped. Why would anybody do that? What's the deal?  

Well for those of us who just casually sail around, or sail single handed the convenience of being able to quickly and easily deploy or stow a headsail is a pretty huge benefit. I dont have a roller, and I sail alone most of the time. Being able to pull that sail in from the cockpit in seconds with no struggle would be a huge advantage for me. Right now I have a downhaul line setup and I just have to juggle the sheets, and halyard and try to get all of the sail to land on deck. That's not really the subject of this discussion though. Carry on.  

Well, I guess I know where Kings Gambit stands on the issue. I don't think the whole point of roller furling is to only carry one sail. I think that's one of the benefits, but realistically, for me being able to roll up the sail and not have to go forward to take it down is the whole point. I'd like to be able to reef the sail so that is the whole point of the querry for me. For $150 additional when you're spending $2000+ on a sail, the gamble is worth it.  

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Unstayed/flying storm jib

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I have a small jib that the PO told me was a storm jib that has a wire luff and no hanks, with a wire tack strap to keep it up off the deck. The only way I can see to fly it is to hoist it using the jib halyard and get it as tight as I can. Is this a normal kind of thing? Seems like it should be attached to the forestay.  

It should. There is tremendous pressure on a storm jib and trying to deal with it without a stay is very difficult. Hoisting and dousing would be nightmares and I can see it easily sagging off so much as to be useless on points other than a run. Also it couldn't be prepared ahead of time. Bad idea all around.  

That's what I thought, but figured there must be some good reason for the sail to be on the boat. I might see if my local sail loft can add hanks to it.  

We had a wire luff staysail that was meant to be flown with a spinnaker and tacked mid-foredeck on one of our previous boats... perhaps it's one of those. If this sail isn't very heavy cloth it's unlikely to be a real storm sail... and I agree it likely won't set/behave well in real storm conditions flying free...  

Faster & Genie beat me to it. Imagine putting this "storm jib" up on deck to hoist it. The wind will catch it, pull it down to leeward, and fill it as you try to hoist it. If you trim it in to keep it from flapping all over the place and beating the mast man with the flogging sheets, it will be next to impossible to hoist. It definitely sounds like a spinnaker staysail, especially if it's made of anything less than 6 oz cloth. Ours is pretty much as you describe, and of fairly light material, since it's only used on reaches or downwind. A storm jib should be made out of stuff about as heavy as your mainsail. If it is that tough, then hanks would be the right direction to go in. Otherwise, enjoy your staysail the way it is when the chute is up.  

Could this be a trysail?  

A trysail uses a track on the mast, either the mainsail track or its own dedicated track ideally and is usually roped all around. I don't think it would have a wire luff.  

How about this: Storm Trysail: For Boats 30' to 34'  

Looks good but you would need a storm jib as well - with just a trysail you couldn't point worth a damn. And getting back to a storm jib, it should be on its own stay as free flying you have no control raising or lowering it.  

Yes, I was just wondering if what Paul has is such a try sail. And I was wondering if the try sail shown on that web page would work given it has not hanks. I agree that it would be terribly difficult to hoist a storm jib without out hanks latched into a stay. I do not agree that you need the stay to keep the luff straight and firm. But it seems that the trysail on that web page is meant to be hoisted freely (instead of the main), and I wonder how that would work in practice.  

It does seem that way but I wouldn't want a trysail that was not on a track on the mast, preferably its own. Free flying storm sails are not only inefficient but very hard to handle.  

Could it be for sheet-to-tiller steering? Set it amidships inside the jib on a reach and run the sheet along the windward side to the tiller, with an elastic keeping the tiller to Leeward. If the boat heads up, the load on the sheet increases and pulls the tiller to windward. If the boat falls off, the sail collapses and the elastic pulls the tiller to leeward.  

I had a wire luff storm jib on my old Vega. Because it was a small sail on a small boat, controlling it was not an issue. It was tacked to a pad eye on the deck that was reinforced below decks. The wire luff allowed the storm jib to be set inside the furled genoa without having the bother of an inner forstay, levers, etc. I liked the arrangement, but like any storm sail, it did not get a lot of use. I sail a cutter now, so my reefed staysail does duty as storm jib.  

I went and had another look at this sail this evening. Odd. It's a wire luff, I'd estimate the sail to be a 95% or thereabouts. The wire luff has a cringle and a second tack line attached about a foot above the tack. I winch it I can tension it enough to make the forestay slack so I don't think there would be much danger of it bulging out any more than the forestay would if it was hanked directly. It has fabric "hanks" with poppers that seem to hold it to the forestay OK (although admittedly I haven't actually sailed with it yet) whilst it's on deck, they are definitely not load-bearing though. I got a photo of the arrangement and will put that up in a bit.  

Just a guess, but is there a second grommet in the clew? If so, you can "reef" the jib.  

Nope, no corresponding cringle in the clew. I wonder if I should just take it to a sailmaker and have it converted to hanks.  

Pictures of the poppers would be nice. Are you confident they wouldn't just popper off the forestay?  

By 'popper' are you talking 'snap-on webbing hanks? Unusual but I've seen them before. The cringle is most likely a jib cunningham. The string at the bottom should probably be tied to the shackle to provide the right luff tension from the halyard...(the luff wire is probably free inside a sleeve) so that once the wire's tight, the actual luff is tight too. Then from there you can rig a cunningham for fine trim. Is it heavy cloth? I'd expect a 'storm jib' to be fairly heavy, mainsail weight or more so.  

Snap on fabric hanks are/were very popular with wire luff jibs. When raising such a sail mostly ALL the stay tension transfers to the wire luff and its halyard system ....and the snap-on hanks are there to stop the now 'floppy' static forestay in place at the front of the sail. This type of arrangment is still used on some 'sportboats' where the 'forestay' is only used to keep the rig/mast up when not sailing ... and the luff wire is connected to an adjustable means of controlling the length (of the combined wire luff and its halyard) so that one can 'rake the mast on the fly' if need be ... otherwise all tension is in the luff wire and its 'halyard' of the flying sail, the static-forestay becomes quite 'loose' - the 2 to 3 'tab-hanks' simply stop the loose static forestay from 'floppin around' and they keep the wire luffed sail 'in place' when raising/lowering. Many large ILYA super-fast scow classes still use this (hankless/foil-less) method. If youve ever pulled a jib out of its furler foil or tuff-luff or broken your hanks ... this system is quite 'superior'. Such a sail really isnt a problem raising/lowering because of its relatively small surface area and the tab-hanks keep it in place on the static-forestay during the raise/lower ... just be sure that the tack connection is the first one connected and the 'last' one disconnected. If a wire luff jib or storm sail doesnt have fairly straight luff profile ... you simply dont have enough winch (or 'magic box') tension on it. In storm conditions, you simply heave-to on a reefed main, go forward and raise/lower the wire luffed in relative 'calm', rather than when 'parting the waves and burying the bow'. Of course for those who fear/dread going forward in rough conditions, this isnt going to be a sail for you. Such a sail design is from the days when all the sail reefing methods were done on the foredeck or at the mast and when boats were 'simple' and didnt have tangled piles of rope all over the cockpit floor to trip over - still its a damn good and very robust system/design. Yup, thats a luff cringle ... works exactly like the cunningham on a well made mainsail and because the wire luff isnt 'stretchable', there is no other way to 'shape' the sail to get that all important ' position of maximum draft ' in good (fore/aft) location. IMO - thats the BEST way to make and fly a 'storm sail' ... less risk of forestay failure too.  

Seems a pretty decent weight cloth, at least as heavy as the main. Rich - great information, that sounds pretty much exactly what I thought it was all about. I always attach the tack first before doing anything else regardless of the sail. When I crank the tension in the halyard, the wire luff takes all the tension out of the forestay. I thought the string was for getting the luff of the sail itself tighter. The only part I can't quite figure out is the second wire coming out about 18 inches up the sail (just where that black fabric is). The only thing I can think of is either a backup attachment point for the really paranoid, or perhaps as a way to reduce the sail size even more by using it as the new tack attachment point, thus reducing the bottom section of the sail.  

PaulinVictoria said: . I thought the string was for getting the luff of the sail itself tighter. The only part I can't quite figure out is the second wire coming out about 18 inches up the sail (just where that black fabric is). The only thing I can think of is either a backup attachment point for the really paranoid, or perhaps as a way to reduce the sail size even more by using it as the new tack attachment point, thus reducing the bottom section of the sail. Click to expand...

You mentioned that this is something like a 95% jib, that would indicate that it is not a storm jib - way too big. Do you have a furler? if not, it could just be a working jib with an unusual arrangement with the wire luff and fabric 'hanks'. Could be converted to metal hanks but worth a try as is. BTW, if you do have a furler, this sail might just date to an earlier time when the boat did not have one.  

No furler. It's probably a fair bit less than 95% actually, the clew comes back to around a foot or so in front of the mast, and the head is 3 or 4ft from the top of the forestay so in terms of actual area it's probably closer to 80%. It's working/windy jib I guess, don't think it was originally for this boat but I usually fly my 115% on a breezy day (25-30knots). Next time I go out with a bit of a breeze I might hang it up just to see what happens.  

Rich, found your comments about transferring all the tension from the forestay to the luff very interesting. Any reason this would not be the proper procedure on a jib with traditional metal hanks as well?  

If the jib doesn't have a wire luff it won't be able to take that kind of load.  

Okay, here's one: In the picture below, you see this sail- When I first looked at it, I thought it was a storm jib. I know very little about sails. The close up shows what I thought were hanks? These snaps are all the way up the luff. Or is that the leach? My car in the background gives some scale. My boat is 30' with a rolling furler.  

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