Eric, The track starts so high because the boat originally came with roller reefing. The luff of the main sail at the tack is cut back so that as the main sail is rolled about the boom, the bolt rope would roll in contiguous turns rather than pile up on itself. This also requires the bolt rope at the luff to be free of the track well above the boom, which is why the track ends where it does. What you describe as the reefing cringle is more likely the cringle for a cunningham. Cunninghams are particularly critical with a roller reefing main sail because the tack fitting on the boom is well aft of the mast.
I went through all this a few years back when I converted from roller reefing to slab or jiffy reefing on my '73 C&C 25. I had my existing main sail modified. The first couple years I had my boat, I did use the roller reefing a couple times. From what I've seen looking at the gooseneck on various C&C 25s, roller reefing disappeared around 1974-1975. (Goosenecks on roller reefing boats contain a gearbox.) "Sail Power" by Wallace Ross has the best explanation of roller reefing that I've seen. (I can let you borrow my copy if you'd like!) I'm surprised a sail maker wouldn't know what I describe above. While roller reefing fell out of favor years ago, there are many old boats that still carry vestiges of it. Mark ----- Original Message ----- From: Eric Frank <efran...@mac.com> To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Sent: Sat, 17 Nov 2012 22:51:51 -0000 (UTC) Subject: Stus-List missing sail track? When I was having measurements taken for a new mainsail, the sailmaker commented that the sail track on my 1972 CC 35 mk2 begins nearly a foot above the boom. The sail track is obviously cast into the aluminum mast, but has been machined away so it begins well above the boom. I had always assumed that was normal, but the sailmaker commented that it made it more difficult to set a reef. The cringle for the reef point at the tack does not go low enough to go over the hook at the forward end of the boom, so I always need to use a short length of line to make this connection. If the sail track were lower, the slides on the sail would be lower so this connection could be made without the line. The other nuisance of having all the track slides so high is that it is hard to reach all the way to the head of the sail to attach and detach the main halyard, and to pull the sail cover over the head of the sail. Is it standard on CC's of this vintage to have the sail track start so high? Would it be OK just to leave the bottom 2 or 3 sail slides not in the track, so the furled sail would be lower and the reef point could be connected directly to the cunningham hook (is that the name of it?). Or should I look into the possibility of having a short length of sail track machined and bolt it into the flat of the mast between the boom and the bottom of the existing track, leaving just enough room to feed the sail slides into the track when bending on the mainsail? Suggestions welcome. Eric Frank Cat's Paw C&C 35 Mk II Mattapoisett, MA
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