Owner’s Notes for
Ardent
March 26
th
, 2021
30
Adjusting the main halyard too tight can cause the furling mechanism to bind. Adjusting it too loose
can cause the mainsail to bunch up in the mast and not deploy.
•
Please lock the sail drive while under sail by putting the shifter into reverse. This will save wear on the
sail drive and improve performance by causing less drag.
Headsail
•
Ardent
’s light air Genoa mounted on a Facnor roller furler.
•
Whether fully or partially deployed, you’ll have good sail shape. Slight hand-over-hand tension on
opposing lines – furling line and sheets – prevents problems such as a rat’s nest on the furling drum
(should the wind catch the sail and unwrap it violently) or a baggy furled sail.
•
Reefing the Headsail – Turn to a close reach and ease the jib sheet until the sail is luffing (keeping
control of the sheet). Pull in the jib furling line and reduce sail to the desired amount. Use caution
when using the jib winch to pull in the furling line – if too much tension, then stop and determine the
cause. A loose jib halyard may cause the top of the furler to bind.
Mainsail
o
Ardent has an in-mast main furling system.
o
With an in-mast furling rig, in normal conditions it’s recommended that the headsail be unfurled first
(while underway). The mast bows slightly aft at the top. By deploying the head sail first, the pressure of
the wind in that sail tends to straighten up the mast making it more “plumb”. This makes it easier for
the main to unfurl from within a plumb mast.
Provided that the wind is less than 20 knots, steer to a course of approx. 60 degrees to the wind
(close reach). Deploy the head sail first. Now you may throttle down and place the engine in
neutral, sailing on the head sail alone. (After a few minutes of “cool down”, kill the engine.)
Now you’re ready to deploy the main.
If you’re in high wind (20+ knots) conditions, you may prefer to deploy the mainsail head-to-
wind instead.
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If you’re in high winds, only partially unfurl the main so it’s “reefed”. Once deployed, fall off
and begin sailing…just like you would on a vessel with a conventional main. Then partially
deploy the headsail.
•
Be conservative with the amount of sail you deploy in high winds. If you’ve been too
conservative, you can easily deploy more sail area in both the main and headsail while you’re
sailing. It is recommended that one reef the sails if winds are over 17 knots.
Unfurling the mainsail:
The mainsail does not cooperate when the boom is pulled down too tight, so give it a little “play”
but don’t completely release the mainsheet and boom vang.
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Loosen the boom vang by pulling out about a foot of line (then close the rope clutch) and loosen the
main sheet by pulling out about 3 feet of line (then close the rope clutch).
The “outhaul” line pulls out the main and the main furl line will wind around the main furler.
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Open the main furler line clutch and keep control of the line.
o
You can control how much of the main you deploy by controlling how much of the main furl line is
released.
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Pull the outhaul by hand or careful use of the winch. Be careful not to force the outhaul or you will
do damage to the rigging and the sail. The wind pressure on the main will help the main to deploy.
o
If it doesn’t respond to moderate force, check for the hang-up.