Simon

I have fitted a topping lift on \\\"Joybells\\\" my bayraider along with \\\"lazy Jacks on one side of the boom only. The \\\"lazy Jacks\\\" attach to a sail bag i made by creating a net made from nylon pleat rope with a thicker nylon pleat for the outside surround. At the mast end the width of the net is wider than the end of the boom because it has to hold more sail when it\\\'s dropped. One edge of the net sail bag is attached along it\\\'s length to the boom with a running stitch. I thought of the net concept so any water would not get trapped as it may do in a solid bag. When the sail is up the net bag offers no wind resistence either. So when i want to drop the main i attach the topping lift which i leave on the mast cleat, attach to boom, release the main halyard, pull the main down into the bag from the clew end (going forward as it gets tight) and flake the sail into the bag and tye it as i go along. It\\\'s not always perfect as depending on wind direction it can spill over the other side before i can tye it. The downside is more lines to tangle as you raise the main, i have fitted some bullseyes on the front of the mast to keep some of these tidy which also seems to work. Let me know if you need any pictures.

Peter

I\\\'ve got no experience with the gunter main, but if you released the tack of the main at the bottom, whilst keeping the sail fully hoisted and the sprit boom in place, that would loosen and spoil the shape of the sail, which should reduce its power. Maybe you could haul the tack up somewhat with a thin line to increase the effect? Gaff rigs used to drop the peak of the gaff as well, but you can\\\'t do that on a gunter unless you rig a second halyard to the throat to keep it up. But then you would technically have a high peaked gaff instead of a gunter lug. Does that matter?

It would be mischievous of me to mention junk rig in this context, so I won\\\'t