How can I stop the genoa sheets chafing against the shrouds and stantions?

Help please! When I sail 'Edge of Moonlight' (IP 380)to windward with the genoa partly furled, the controlling sheet pulls and chafes against the stantions and lee shrouds. There isn't any position of the cars to avoid this. I've tried threading a second set of sheets inside the shrouds but can't find a good position here either. I'm not only worried about the wear and the pulling force against the stantions in particular, but being unable to sheet in close-hauled limits her ability to sail upwind. I'm sure other owners must have had the same problem, can anyone tell me a good solution for this ? Thanks, KJ

P.S. if you look at Cheri and Tom Ward's video: "45 knots on the Bay" they have their genoa fully furled but the placement of the sheet pulling on the shrouds and stantion is the same problem I have when trying to use the partially furled genoa, look at how the sheet is really pulling in against their lee stantion and the chafe against the shroud, the shroud is very loose probably because of this repeated action.

I wanted to thank you for pointing out the slop in my rigging. I didn't see that until you brought it up. We had the mast pulled last Summer and paid the local "pros" to tune the rigging when it went back up. It looks to me like I need to learn how to do this myself. The forward shroud is definitely looser than I would like but the rest look OK. Must have been quite a bit of bend in the mast from the staysail that day!

I haven't noticed any chafing problems with the Genoa sheets against the standing rigging or stanchions. I have seen plastic tubing placed over the shrouds for this purpose though. I believe West Marine sells them. The stanchions should be smooth enough to not be a concern.

I understand what you mean about not being able to point up. I believe it's the nature of the design. I have found that I get about an extra 5 degrees if I furl the staysail completely when running close hauled.

Tom Ward
IP420-35
La Vidal Dulce

Tom, thanks for your reply. Have you (or anyone else in the forum) tried to use a 'barber haul' to sheet the foresails and if so how did you rig it? I'm looking at: www.mysailing.com.au/news/barber-haulers from 22Feb last year. Cheers, KJ

I have an IP27, so this may not work on your boat. When I sail close-hauled in high winds and my 140% genoa is "double reefed" -- down to a 90-100% working jib -- I run a spare jib sheet between the shrouds and inside the lifelines to a snatch block shackled to a car on the very forward end of the jib track. (I have a car with a padeye on each of my jib tracks, forward of the car for the jib sheet, that I use for a variety of tasks.) I can rig this while underway by trimming the existing sheet (the one run outside the shrouds and lifelines) all the way in and tying the spare sheet onto the clew with a bowline. This new sheet runs fair, without any chafing at all. When I bear off, I load the original sheet (the one outside the shroud and lifelines), untie the spare, and then ease the outside sheet as needed. There's a photo of this called "Double-Reefed Genoa" on this site.

I think this would work for you if you find the right balance between how much to furl the genoa (that is, where the clew of the sail will be) and where to place the jib sheet block (whether it's the one you're now using or a snatch block like I use). I bet you can line things up so the new sheet runs between your shrouds and down to the block without touching anything.

I think it's a good idea to do this not just to stop the chafing but also to relieve the considerable inward pressure that a jib sheet run outside the shrouds and lifelines exerts on the lifelines and stanchions if you're sailing close-hauled in high winds.

Good luck with this.

Michael Luskin
"Turtleheart" IP27-146
Scarsdale, NY

Thank you Michael, I think your plan is good but as yet I haven't found the right position to thread an inside sheet between the shroudson my 380 , I think I need a genoa that is high cut (? yankee) rather than flat along the foot, but I hadn't thought of adding a padeye car to the forward end of the track, I'll check that out.
What I have done so far is to replace the stanchion aft of the shrouds with a bent stanchion. The new stanchions have a central s-bend which brings the upper half 2 inches inboard.... it makes a world of difference! I can now sheet in much further when my 110% genoa is furled to 90% and any stress is taken against the shroud which I have protected with a 6 feet long x 2 inch diameter white PVC water pipe acting as a rolling shroud protector.
I've also recently strengthened the padeyes that were added to the coach roof to use with my dutchman preventer. I'm planning to use this fixed point as a true barber-haul using the same principle you're using but just placing the attachment point on the coach roof rather than outboard on the car track i.e. the extra line will come inboard of all the shrouds, I haven't run this yet but I think it'll work with my genoa furled at about 70%, if there is any more sail unfurled the leech will catch against the inside of the shrouds.
I don't sail during the summer, so I'll let you know in the fall how well it works ( plus some pictures if my ideas do work!).
best regards, KJ for Eomoon