We all know how critical sail shape is to performance and that the sheet controlling said airfoil is matched to the job, whether it’s a zero-stretch, minimum-diameter PBO sheet on a mini-maxi blade, or a fuzzy polyester jib sheet that grips the drum on a big cruiser’s primary. What, then, of the handshake between the two?
Tying directly to the clew is the most basic — though not always lightest — method of attaching jib and spinnaker sheets, and these days, the humble knot still has the biggest cohort of followers overall—everything from Club 420s to beach cats to large cruising and race boats. But there are tradeoffs that come with simplicity. For instance, the simplest of sheet-to-clew connections is the luggage tag (or cow hitch) on a 1-to-1 jib sheet system. Simply take a length of line twice the length of your boat, double it up to find the middle, pass that loop through the clew cringle and then pass the standing ends through the loop.
The luggage tag is a low-profile connection; it doesn’t slip and is as short as any other option, which is more of a consideration in some classes than in others, allowing trim right up to jib cars, fairleads and redirect blocks, such as foot blocks, barber haulers, etc. When you need clearance and simplicity and never change a jib between dock out and haul out, the luggage tag might be perfect for your application. This knot, however, can be the 3M 5200 of knots when it truly sets, especially if it’s a soft polyester line in a high-load application (think J/24 genoa) or if the sheets live on the sail and go through a few wet/dry cycles.
On the plus side, in cases where the luggage tag is ubiquitous, you’re only likely to need to remove the sheets when they are damaged and need replacing; in which case, what the heck, bust out the knife. In most cases, however, the sail and sheets age gracefully together in the bag and never need to be separated.
As one moves up to larger boats, the simplicity of a knot may still be desirable. It’s not uncommon to see bowlines or buntline hitches get the nod on everything up to masthead genoas on 70-footers — but those bring more considerations. First, tying a knot reduces the strength of a control line by as much as 50 percent, though headsail sheets are often overspecified to ensure maximum grip on winch drums, self-tailers and, of course, the trimmer’s hands.
Of greater concern is the size and bulk of the knot. On a typical 36-plus-foot crossover, a properly tied bowline with a tail, while simple to attach and easy to untie, will create quite a relatively sizeable wad of rope at the clew, likely to catch on everything between the fairleads — shrouds, lifelines, deck cleats, you name it. And, if you’re racing and have a crew crossing in front of the mast, a heavy bowline in 14mm sheets can also add the excitement of possible blunt force trauma to a bowman’s day. For all of these reasons, the simplicity of knots at the clew is generally not enough to earn them usage on larger race boats.
Race boats (and well-sorted cruisers) generally rely on three broad categories of sail connections: hardware, textile and hybrid systems. Hardware solutions come in many forms, from small ball-bearing blocks on the clew rings of 2-to-1 jibs, like those on Stars and Flying Scots, to large titanium T-rings, which are webbed into the clew of a sail and feature a central T-shaped post that an eye splice in the end of a jib sheet slips over.
On large racer/cruisers and grand-prix boats, trigger snap shackles are ubiquitous, especially on tacklines, sheets, guys and halyards on forward sails. Tylaska, Ronstan and Wichard make stainless and titanium versions of these versatile workhorses, popular because they are reliable, very strong, won’t flog open, and can be spiked open under load.
Also available are small, cone-shaped fids (sometimes referred to as ‘Martin Breakers’) that allow the option of remotely releasing the trigger on these shackles, often the tack shackle coming into an asymmetric spinnaker drop.
Two caveats with snap shackles of any type are weight and the potential damage they can cause when the sail flogs—anything they can reach can potentially be dented or otherwise damaged, leading to a cottage industry among marine canvas fabricators of padded mast base protectors, neoprene shackle boots and similar.
Another popular option to consider for jib sheet, main halyard and outhaul connections are Tylaska’s J-Lock shackles. Their low-profile design fits through most genoa lead cars, simplifying leading changing sheets, and also makes them a little less likely to ding up your pride and joy. They are super strong, easy to operate and have a plunger system that makes the possibility of them flogging open remote.
With the increasing prevalence of low-diameter, high-strength single-braid lines, (HMPEs like Dyneema specifically), soft textile connections are having a day. Distinct from tying knots directly to the sail, textile connections are spliced systems designed to capitalize on the strength of these high-modulus fibers as well as their lightweight, non-water absorbing characteristics, while addressing the shortcomings of tying a knot—difficult reversibility, bulk, strength loss, etc. Soft, light connections that take advantage of Dyneema’s natural slippery texture are a no-brainer for connecting sheets to asymmetric spinnakers, adding lubricity as they drag along the shrouds during a jibe.
Much of the prevalence of textile rigging solutions can be traced to the viral popularity of the soft shackle. Made from as little as 18 inches of single-braid HMPE, a soft shackle is, in essence, a sliding loop buried back inside itself with a stopper knot at the other end. Using the “finger trap” characteristics of single-braid rope, the loop is opened, slid around the stopper knot, and milked smooth, creating an incredibly strong loop that can be used for everything from hanging water bottles below to armored vehicle recovery (the overland and 4×4 market for soft shackles dwarfs their marine use).
Years ago, several videos showing step-by-step how to make soft shackles appeared online and had the effect of demystifying working with high-tech rope, and really got the average Wednesday night warrior thinking about ways to use the light, strong fiber all over their boats. Soft shackles have become so ubiquitous that every rigger has their own spin on them — some are covered with 48-plait Dyneema chafe sleeve, some use ‘ripcords’ to make the loop easier to open, some use unidirectional (unbraided) fiber…the customizations and variations are seemingly endless.
As boats get larger, ‘softies’ have their place. Oftentimes, they’ll be spliced into a reeving eye of a single jib sheet, and the two sheets are then soft shackled to the clew of the sail, allowing the lazy sheet to be moved independently.
They are also handy and light for connecting snatch blocks and other deck hardware, as evidenced by the number of block manufacturers – Nautos, Antal, Harken, Ronstan, etc. – that make a lash-on version of their gear.
Another simple method of connecting spin sheets to asymmetric kites is to put 1-inch eyes in the stripped end of each sheet. Then, pass the tail of a ‘pigtail’ (a 20-inch or so length of single-braid Dyneema with a 1-inch eye in one end), through the eyes in the spin sheet ends and then back through the eye in its own other end, leaving you with the two sheet ends lashed together and a single 20-inch, small diameter tail that then gets tied with a bowline to the clew of the sail. The pigtail is small and slick, allowing it to drag around the rig easily, and the sheets can be swapped to a new kite with only one knot to untie. The downsides of using Dyneema single-braids to attach sails are few.
To be sure, a soft shackle takes more time to open and to attach than a trigger shackle (and gets progressively more difficult as they age), and the hundreds of small denier fibers that make up each plait of the rope are susceptible to chafe. That said, the many advantages of Dyneema connections – UV stability, zero water absorption, extremely light weight and low stretch. With the myriad variations available, there are solutions that address the threats (chafe sleeve, PU coatings, etc.) and should make soft connections a serious consideration.
A final category is what I would describe as ‘hybrid’ connectors – pieces of hardware that rely on a combination of textile rope and a bit of hardware. Companies such as Antal, Ropeye, Equiplite, Nodus, Wichard, Tylaska and Harken, to name a few, all make trick little anodized bits that take the best of both worlds and use them in creative ways. Oftentimes these solutions can be as simple as an anodized ‘dog bone’ – a short, often conical bar tapered towards the center that can be used as a ‘button’ in place of a stopper knot on a soft loop attachment.
Spool shackles are a similar idea – a spliced eye in the end of the sheet passes through the spool, then through the clew of the sail, and then back around the ends of the spool. A soft rubber O-ring slides down to add an element of security when not under load.
At the far end of the simplicity spectrum are high-load shackles that utilize milled spools in conjunction with covered, braided or unidirectional-HMPE fibers, pre-stretched and heat set, often with a Velcro belt to hold everything in place when not under load. Also popular with commercial rigging operations, units like those manufactured by Equiplite are advertised with strengths up to 3,000 tons. For your 36-footer, you can expect to pay a few hundred dollars for one and to then be amazed at how simple, light and strong they are.
At the end of the day, there are an almost infinite number of ways to connect sheets to sails, and every situation has nuances and considerations. What type of boat? Sail? Are you racing or cruising? Is there a chance that you will change sails? If you’re racing, find the good guys in your class and see what they are using and ask them why. If you’re a DIYer, consider getting a set of fids and watching a few YouTube videos about making softies. That will get your mind spinning on the possibilities that exist, and on finding a solution that matches your budget, ambition and needs. Now go get connected.
