J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Lowering traveler with windward sheeting car

This spring I installed a Harken windward sheeting car traveler system on my boat. In most respects this has been a real improvement, but after using it for a season I have come to appreciate that the convenience it provides come with a real drawback that I have not heard any discussion of among the many endorsements of the windward sheeting system. The problem is that there does not seem to be any practical way of lowering the traveler once it has been raised to windward. If the wind picks up, or you simply adjust it too high, there does not seem to be any way to let the traveler back down. Has anyone discovered a way of doing this? or a good strategy for compensating for this drawback? I would have to say that this seems like a fairly serious drawback to the system and I am surprised there has not been any discussion of it.

I am pretty sure that mine lowers by raising the line to release the cleat . If you are lowering it a lot then the leward traveller sheet gets "run over" and I like to keep the slack out of it.

hmmmm I dont really understand ...

i have an endless line on my traveller, in case of a big puff blowin in, i grab the line and pull it out of the cleats ( same as you would do with the main sheets ) release the traveller a bit and than put line back into cleat ...

Thor

correct with the run over stuff. happens once in a while. I will " fill" in the slot on both sides of the traveller this winter, so the line cannot fall into the opening. that might help a little...
( plus leaves and dirt cannt accumulate there either )

Thor

I thought about it some more and checked it out on my windward sheeting rig. when the main is loaded by wind force the leeward camcleat should become unlatched . This allows the windward cleat to be released and the traveller then can be moved up or down. Like I said earlier ... in a tack or gybe the traveler sometimes goes over the leeward traveler sheet jambing it all up. The car must be moved up to get the line out from under the traveller car. I too considered a continuous line but will I be able to reach it from the rail or should I add shock cord somewhere to make it work?
good luck,
clint