How to Raise a Boat Sail

Video Transcript

"Again we need to have a plan for putting our sails up. First thing you want to do is make sure you know what all the lines do. If you're a member of a club like we have, every boat is rigged differently, so the first thing you want to do is make sure you know where all the lines are. Here we have a line clutch. The first line that's coming out is for the main sheet. The first line we have that's coming out is for the main sheet, hal ok good lord ha ha ha, here we go. The main sail halyard. Sail halyard. The first line we have is for the main sail halyard. The next two lines we have are for the reefing lines and the fourth line we have is for the boom bag. On the opposite side here we have the out hull. The line here is for the main sheet. That's on our starboard side. When we raise the main sail the first thing you need to do is point the boat into the wind. We'll look at our tell tales on the shroud, look at our wind index above on top of the mast. You see that the wind is a little to our port so I'm going to turn into the wind so that Windex is pointing forward. Next what you want to do is make sure that the boom bag is released, see how Kelly is pulling that lever up and pulling it forward, it's loose. You want to make sure that your boom, main sheet, which is on our starboard side on this boat, is released. Now we can raise, once the crew is ready they'll let the skipper know by saying "ready". Skipper will say "hoist the main sail". We can start hauling up. See how, there's a little bit of work involved, especially on larger boats. As the sail comes up, the sail is a gust wind indicator on the boat. You will want to try and keep that sail, maybe pull on that main sheet a little bit, you want to keep it directly into the wind, especially if you have lazy jacks. Those lines going down the side. Helps to give the crew a little encouragement. Almost there Kelly, you're doing a great job. Keeping an eye on it over there. Making sure we're, Ed, What are you watching out for right now. Right now I'm just kind of staying away from the lines here and watching the sail go up. What I'm looking for is a crease to develop along the front of the sail, which is called a luff. Couple of more cranks on there and I think we'll have it. Make sure the main sail it tight and taut. There we go, we have that vertical crease develop and we're good to go. So how do we look there, Ed? Looks good."