J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Jib sail track making a racket

Hi All,
I don't have a furling jib, but rather a sail track on my forestay to raise the jib. When the wind starts to blow say about 15 knots or higher, the track will start to vibrate and make a clanging noise. I've attempted to "tie it down" , however it is only somewhat effective. I've been looking for something that would make this stop as it makes a racket. Anyone sorted this out before?

Cheers,

Sean
Wings
BER319

Hi Sean,I think you are talking about the twin luff.What I have to stop the rattling is like a tiny sail made out of an old sail with a luff of about 8" and a foot of about 14" tie a piece of cord to the tack about 7 feet long with a loop on it which goes over the tack horn a small loop on the head for the halyard and an eyelet at the clew with another peice of cord to reach the spinnaker pole ring which you move up the mast track so that you are getting a straight pull on the anti-rattler.I have a plastic hook tied to the cord to hook on to the ring which saves you having tie it and untie it all the time make this quite tight you will have to experiment to get the right tension to stop the rattling.

Sean,

What Jim refers to is a "Flopper Stopper". North sails sells them on their website at this link. They also provided them as giveaways in the skipper bags at the J/30 North American championships we held in 2008 and 2013. A halyard is attached at the top with a line attached at the bottom that is about 1/2 the height of the headstay and connected to the jib tack fitting. A third line connected at the aft end of the flopper stopper tensions the headstay to the spinnaker ring on the mast to prevent the noise and oscillations when wind blows over an empty head foil.

Hi JIm,
Yes, don't have all the terminology down yet. I had the same thought in mind, but wanted to see how the pro's did it first before checking out the local sail makers to see what they had in the way of old sails kicking about.


Thanks for your reply!

Bill, perfect. Ordering one today! Thanks so much! I was hoping there was one out there already and I didn't have to break out the sewing kit.

Tried searching online, however without knowing it's official name, I was unable to find anything.

Cheers!

Sean

A simpler approach is to wrap the spinnaker halyard around the head foil and tighten it up. It has worked for me for 33 years.

Hmmmmm....looks like a great opportunity to use the "J-30" logo off an old main with your boat's name under it as a "war flag". Sew on a chunk of #6 luff tape and bind the edges and you;re good to go.