With a cleat?? Seriously. It depends on what you want and how you sail. The cheapest option is the winch/horn cleats. They are not complicated work well, etc. However they are slow and I always fear getting a finger caught setting the sheets in this manner. Moreover, it doens't lend itself to fast or accurate adjustments. IF you are more of a cruiser and want simplicity and are williing to pay for them self tailing winches are very nice. Not the fastest if you are interested in racing and fine tuning your settings but simpler. You don't need to tail yourself or have someone else do it. It . . . selftails. Self tailing is probably the most expensive option. If you are more of a racer and like to tinker with your settings, a good winch and a cam cleat is nice and fast. Sort of the middle of the road from a cost standpoint. They take a little more work than selftailing. On the other hand none of these are that hard to set if you have a skilled crew that sets the sails when they aren't loaded up. Depends on how you sail, pocket book and goals.
--- On Tue, 4/13/10, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [IC27A] How do you cleat your sheets? To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 10:09 AM My '27 came with self-tailing winches. That was the first time I ever had them and I didn't know why one would need them. Now I know. I wouldn't have anything else. There are great...that' s the way to cleat. Andy Dalzell # 6298 In a message dated 4/13/2010 7:51:57 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, dj2...@yahoo. com writes: Sneaked out of work early again (its becoming a habit;) as the wind was 5-10 steady from the NE. Hanked on the 150 genoa and headed out to the lake. The C27 sails real nice with that size sail in that wind, almost hands off. Now to my question. The stock winches are Lewmar 10s w/rubber self tailers with a cleat aft. I actually found it easier to not use the winch and luff the headsail and cleat. What is your upgrade? Have you switched to cam cleats instead of the regulate cleat? upgraded the winches? What do you find to be the best way to 'cleat your sheet', especially when single handed? Doug 5053
