Hello All,
The BRe has a fully battened mainsail which is great for reefing and general sail handling, but the battens and sail slides do need lubrication, as previously mentioned here. The last foot or so always gets heavy because you are begining to put tension into the luff of the sail, and the battens also exert a force as the sail becomes tighter. As standard, we have for some time fitted luff downhauls to the main boom, which is a simple addition of a roller clam top, with keeper:
http://www.clamcleat.com/cleats/cleat_details.asp?theid2=57We would be happy to send these free of charge to owners of older BRe's that do not have them. The rope needs to be tied to a shackle on one side of the boom, at the front end, threaded up through the cunningham hole (about 5" up the luff) and then back down into this cleat. Slacken this off when raising the sail, cleat off the halyard, then pull down on this, which provides 2:1 advantage. In this way you are tensioning the luff from both ends, which gives a much better result.
The second point about boom raising has also been made here - its easier with the boom a bit higher. But with a fully battened sail, a topping lift is a pain, so are lazy jacks, as the boom ends catch in them. My prefered solution is as follows:
Decide which side the wind is likely to be when raising the mainsail.
Unclip the lazyjack from the boom, on the opposite side (the lee side). Clip it to the shroud to avoid tangles.
Take the remaining lazyjack, support the boom on your shoulder, unsnap it and wrap it once around the boom, clipping it back onto itself. (This shortens it, so lifting the boom).
Raise the sail. This should be easier because the wind is on the opposite side to the detached batten, so the back ends dont snag.
Put the lazy jacks back as they were.
If this is too much hassle, then you can rig adjustable lazy jacks as Jonathan Stuart has done, or fit a topping lift, but it is all more string and therefore more rigging time.
I personally find that if you spray the sliders with lubricant as well as the track, that you dont need to lift the boom. In light conditions you dont need to detach the lee side LJ either, but in heavier weather, its a good trick to know.
Hope this helps.
Matt