BC23 sail raising problems

[Sandpiper]

Hi all, I am new to this forum to please bear with me on any naivety or failures of etiquette. We have sailed our BC23 'Sandpiper' in Chichester harbour for the past three years and I have always been struck by how raising the main seemed much more of an effort than I expected for a relatively small boat (and vs larger boats I have sailed). Recently it seems to have been getting worse, despite a new masthead block and replacing the top slider with aluminium rather than plastic. I have to winch up the last 2-3 ft hard, even in a flat calm with everything loose and head to whatever wind there us and that doesn't seem right to me. Do I have the wrong expectations? Have others encountered this? Can you think of anything further for me to investigate? I fam sure reading this forum that I am at the less competent end of the spectrum technically so user error is always a possibility. Its shame because it spoils our experience of what is otherwise such a fun and easy boat...   Thanks in advance.

[Martijn]

On Riff Raff this is also a PITA, very frustrating indeed.
I can only raise the mainsail with the wind dead ahead, which is by far not always possible.
I used a lubricant to make the slides go up easier, which helped slightly but only for the first part.

From my experience the problem seems to caused by 2 reasons:
a.) If the boom goes off center, the slides rotate sideways in the mast rail. Because of the profile of the rail there is a lot of friction on the slides and movement gets a lot harder.

b.) The top block is not positioned correctly (both length wise and sideways) above the top of the sail where the halyard connects. So the higher you raise your main, the more the top slide tilts both forward and side ways, effectively preventing manual hoisting.

For a boat this size it should not be necessary to raise the sail by force/winch, especially in light winds. It has kept me from sailing several times, I'm still looking for a solution.

Maybe this is also the problem on your boat.

[Sandpiper]

Thanks Martijn, you described the situation better than I - sounds like the exact same problem/ In a ways its a relief its not just me, but also concerning whether there is an effective solution.

[Nick Orchard]

Have you tried a slide and track lubricant? I use Smooth Sail and it’s amazing how much difference it makes on my BC26 sail. Spray a small amount on the sail slides and as much of the track as you can reach and you should find that you’ll be able to hoist the main all the way to the top by hand, and when it comes to lowering, release the halyard and the sail drops like a stone into the boom bag - magic! It’s not oily or tacky so should’t collect dirt, but it does need re-applying from time to time, but it’s only a few seconds to give everything a quick squirt and you’re off again.

[boehm.reichling]

Hi,

I had the same problem on my BC23. As said lubrication helps.
But I think the main problem is the block position. I screwed on a standing block at the top right in line with the rail. Had to take away a few centimeters of the rail at the very top to make space for it and the halyard.
Now I can easily raise the main by hand and it drops down by itself nearly completely

[Sandpiper]

Thank you all for the comments. I can confirm the lubricant made for a substantial improvement, particularly on the way down. Not completely though so I will investigate the block modification as suggested.