Jib Halyard Adjustment - The jib load is carried on the jib halyard, not the forestay. (The purpose of the forestay is to hold the mast up when the jib is down and to provide a wire to hank the jib on). The jib luff needs to be tight sailing upwind and loose offwind. This control can also be used to adjust mast rake and induce mast bend.

A simple jib halyard adjustment is nothing more than a series of hooks on the mast on which the halyard loop can be placed. (Someone, Nicro Fico?, makes a fitting which mounts in the sail rope groove, which has a double row of about 16 hooks, spaced about a 1/4 inch apart). (An alternate method is to use multiple compression fittings on the jib halyard wire and a single hook). This arrangement is all that should be used on wood mast, you do not pre-bend a wood spar. If you are using an AL stick and really want to control your rig, read on, else skip to the next section.

A Jib Halyard Puller can be used to vary the tension on the halyard. I copied a design invented by Terry Wood of TN, after using several other designs that were only so-so. It uses two double sheave blocks. The aft block is anchored to an eye strap on the keel, aft of the DB well. The forward block floats and has an 'S' hook that attaches to a loop in the jib halyard wire. The free end of the line runs through a turning block attached to the mast step with twist shackle and then to a cam cleat mounted on the forward edge of the DB well. What makes this design so nice is the cam cleat is mounted on a small piece of aluminum bent toward the keel about 40 degrees. The cam cleat is on the bent section, so the pull is in-line to the turning block. It adjusts very easily and is a design I can endorse without qualification.

 

 

 

Jib Halyard Puller Parts

1	Cunningham Hook	NF-237	N/S
1	Double Bullet Block	H #084	N/S
1	Double Becket Block	H #085	N/S
1	Eye Strap	NF-1049	N/S
2	Twist Shackles	NF-12422	N/S
1	Bullet Swivel Block	H #166	N/S
12'	3/16" line	Samson	N/S
1	Alum Plate 2 x 3 1/2"	Scrounge
1	Cam-Matic Cleat	H #150	N/S

The parts for this rig were about $70 when I last priced them.

Want to get fancy? Spend another $80 and double lead it to both decks. This will give you something to pull on when other boats pass you. Some owners use a Harken Magic Box mounted on the side of the DB well, rather than blocks, it will give more purchase and has a built in scale to reproduce desired settings.