Downhaul problem solved!!!
A typical problem that every windsurfer (I guess...) has dealt with it at least one time in his life, is the sequence of passing the downahaul rope through the sail's and mast extension's rollers and then to the cleat.
Some sail manufacturers choose to put the rollers on their sails in such a way, so they are in parallel to the mast extension's rollers. This is the best case scenario and the procedure is simple. You just pass the rope through the first roller of the sail, then to the roller of the mast that is across, and you follow the procedure with the next roller until the rope gets in the cleat.
But when the sail's and mast extension's rollers are in an angle of 90 degrees, then this procedure might get a bit messy, when you try it for the first time. The result is usually a not good looking arrangement of the rope sections (they are not in parallel), which, in addition, sometimes come in contact with each other. That makes it more difficult for you to pull the rope, because of the increased friction, plus the rope will wear down more easily.
In this article I want to show a nice and easy way to deal with this "problem".
Once you are ready, just follow the steps shown below:
Step 1:
Pass the rope through the inside roller of the sail.
Step 2:
Now the rope goes into the roller which is near the cleat. Make sure that you pass it from inside to outside.
Step 3:
The rope goes to the outside roller of the sail as shown in the photo.
Step 4:
In this step, the rope passes through the outside roller of the mast extension. *Make sure to pass it from outside to inside.
Step 5:
The rope passes through the centre roller of the sail.
Step 6:
The rope passes through the cleat.
Maybe this final photograph will help you more:
As you can see, the rope sections are in parallel, they do not touch with each other. In that way it will be easier to pull and the rope will last longer.
I wish that this article will help you. There are more to come in the future.
Panos Tsoukalas
GRE 51