You’re hauling upwind in a huge blow when a big juicy puff comes rolling along and slams you over on your ear and all you can say is “BLOW THE JIB!!!” as your crew feverishly yanks to pull the sheet over their head to uncleat it from your less than ideal sheeting setup. With a few pieces-parts you can supercharge your jib. The basic need is to be able to get the jib in and out of the cleat at all times. Light air, heavy air, it doesn’t matter. It must be easy.
The system below is the old faithful swivel base with cleat found on tons of boats. It works pretty well, but the angle is either too low or too high. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes not.
The setup above started out on the new Allen boats and has proven itself to be reliable, easy and plenty friendly. It’s reall quite simple once you get the bracket mounted under the deck on a glassed-in wood pad. The bracket can be built from 3/16″ or 1/4″ aluminum angle, or purchased from Allen. The 2 to 1 purchase is a true delight!! Anyone who has EVER had any trouble getting the jib in that last inch will have fingertip control with this setup. Use smaller than usual line for the sheets so it runs easy. If you have any questions, ask me.
