by Guest » Fri Jun 23, 2000 12:00 am
Steve, slugs on the mainsail are perfectly class-legal, as long as the boltrope is still in place. You need not fear "breaking" the one-design rules!
I agree that the sail is easier to furl with slugs, but the ease of raising sail is aided (with slugs) if you have a gate to keep them from falling out of the slot in the mast. Of course, then it is best to leave the sail furled on the boom covered by a sail cover. If, like me you keep your DS on a mooring (or in a slip) all season, this is easy, but if you trailer your boat...the gate in the slot may be more inconvienient than the boltrope. Basically, without the gate, the slugs will just fall out of the slot as you lower the sail, and you then lose the benefit of easier furling. I've used both slugs and the boltrope, and have found that the slugs are easier only if the entrance to the slot in the mast can be closed to prevent the slugs from falling out. I like the way that once I feed the head of the sail into the slot, the boltrope just feeds itself as the sail goes up. On our CAL 21, we have slugs, and until we added the gate....feeding each slug into the slot as the sail went up was not fun.
Rod Johnson (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)