Sail, Rope and Rigging

Since the advent of modern winches, easing sheets under load has been problematic. Doing so requires uncleating the line or removing it from the self-tailer, a procedure fraught with hazard for the unwary—until now. In the run-up to the Annapolis Boat show, Harken and Seldn have both unveiled new self-tailers that can ease a sail under load, with your fingers safely out of the way and the line

The LineGrabber allows you to quickly and easily attach a line or anchor snubber at any point along another line. It can also be used in any number of other applications, from securing a coil of rope to hanging something from a backstay or securing a dock line. LineGrabbers are manufactured by the same company that makes the Shockles anchor line snubber and consist of a sewn double loop of 1/4in

Ronstan’s Core Blocks include a proprietary two-stage bearing system and durable alloy cheeks. Stage one provides “ultra-low friction” when handling moderate loads. The second stage engages when the wind pipes up and loads increase. According to Ronstan, this two-stage approach cuts overall friction almost in half.Core Block cheeks are precision-shaped with an eye toward providing maximum

Facnor’s new FlatDeck furler combines the ease of single-line reefing with the low profile and mechanical advantage of a continuous-line furler. Because its hybrid furling line merges flat webbing with regular rope, the furling drum can be flatter and wider than a conventional furling drum. This creates more leverage when furling the sail and leaves more space on the forestay for the luff of the

Halyard locks are a fantastic way to spare your rig some mast compression. The only problem with them is that the sail can only be locked at full hoist. As soon as you reef you’re back on the halyard. To solve this problem, Antal has created the Mini Hook halyard-lock system for boats up to 40ft. Featuring a locking mechanism controlled via a pair of trip lines on the back of the headboard car,

Grinding winches can be fun—to a point. Now, for those times when you don’t feel like building arm strength there’s the WinchRite, from Sailology LLC, a fully portable electric winch handle that makes everything from raising the main to furling in the genoa a snap.Designed specifically for sailing, the WinchRite provides up to 100 newton meters of torque and rotation speeds from 50 to 120

Synthetic rigging has come of age. Colligo Marine is now taking orders for made-to-order twelve-strand Dynex Dux (pre-stretched Dyneema SK-75) shrouds, backstays, and forestays (and other standing rigging), which are compatible with either lashing or turnbuckle-style tensioning systems. Colligo claims that the synthetic rigging is roughly the same cost as stainless-steel wire shrouds but is only

Harken made a big announcement at the 2009 U.S. Sailboat Show at Annapolis: A new line of winches, called the Radials. But unlike other “new” winches that are merely a 2.0 version of an existing product, Harken literally started with a blank sheet of paper and built from the ground up. The resulting winches are lighter, more efficient, safer, easier to install, and easier to upgrade to powered

Adios steel shackles, hello Softies. These soft shackles (they can also do double duty as hanks for headsails) are spliced from a single length of Dyneema SK75 and come in two sizes, the smaller of which has a safe working load of 2,000 pounds, while the larger can handle 4,000 pounds: impressive numbers, given the unit’s light weight. While sailors have been handcrafting soft shackles for

Over the years, Hall Spars has developed a solid reputation for building high-end performance masts and booms. More recently, it announced its new line of Hall Seamless Carbon Rigging (SCR) 35. As the name implies, this carbon standing rigging is seamless, has the smallest frontal area possible, and has a billiard-ball smooth finish that Hall claims helps to reduce drag. The