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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Lazy Jacks

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5881 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/20/2023 : 12:38:02

It has been a little quiet here lately.

I just saw a video on youtube that sheds an interesting light on the positives and negatives of lazy jacks. Here's the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDJbc8z8x-Y

The primary negative appears when he raises the sail. As the sail goes up, the battens snag on the lazy jacks and he has to repeatedly fool with the halyard and boom to hoist the sail. I had lazy jacks on my C&C and that was such a frequent and annoying problem that it eventually made me decide to stop using them. It's less of a problem when you have crew, with more hands available to deal with it. Maybe there are ways to avoid that, but I could never figure out how. All it takes is for the boat to roll for a batten to slip behind a lazy jack line.

The video suggests that, if you use lazy jacks, you should also use a boom bag, because it saves you having to reach into a cockpit locker to retrieve the sail cover and sail ties and put them on. Without a boom bag, you'll still need to at least put on the sail cover. Even with a boom bag, he still needed to flake the sail down enough to get it into the bag. Without one, unless it fell perfectly, you would probably need to flake it the length of the boom.

I think the main advantage of lazy jacks is that they gather up the mainsail when you douse it, and prevent it from cascading onto the deck and into the cockpit. That obscures your vision and possibly your ability to swing the tiller. A quick, easy remedy to that is to throw a couple bungees or sail ties around the sail. It doesn't have to be neat, only takes a few seconds and it will control the sail until the boat is in its slip, where you can flake and cover the sail without hurrying. That's really only a problem in strong winds. In moderate winds you can take the sails down in the lee of land, or trees or buildings, away from traffic, and let the boat drift while you flake and cover the sail. If you start flaking the sail from the outboard end of the boom, then you can put on the first sail tie at about the aft third of the boom, and then go to the coach roof to flake and tie the rest of it.

So, the video suggested to me that, if you're going to use lazy jacks, use a boom bag with it, so you can get as much benefit from the lazy jacks as possible. Without the boom bag, the negative starts to compete with the positives.

Looking at the big picture, to decide what would make sailing easier, I think my first choice would be self steering. For short handed sailing, being able to leave the helm to tend sails or do a myriad of other things should probably be higher on your list than lazy jacks.

To be clear, many people swear by lazy jacks. They do what they're supposed to do, but people can make the best choices when they have both sides of the question.

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9044 Posts

Response Posted - 12/20/2023 : 22:06:24

I didn't have lazy jacks, but I've seen some rigged with their own "halyards" (very light lines) and some bungees so that before raising the sail, you eased the LJ "halyards", slackening the jacks, and the bungees pulled them forward toward the mast so that they are fully forward of the leech and all of the batten tips, although not necessarily against the mast. Before dousing the sail, you tensioned the LJ halyards to tension the jacks into their intended shape (stretching the bungees) to capture the sail. I figured slackening the jacks might also keep them from affecting the sail shape, especially in light air.

I thought about it, but decided it would make my new cover useless--I'd want to buy a bag shown in the video.

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.