Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

If you have been following along you know about our plans to install a roller furler aboard Woodstock, our Mirage 24. This process started last year when I purchased an old Schafer cable style furler. Unfortunately, I was not happy with the way it worked and felt it was unsafe. I mounted it inside of the forestay it rubbed up against the cable when furling and unfurling. So it simply did not work for my application.   I decided to go with the CDI FF4 furler. After looking at Harken, Schafer, and several other models it became clear that CDI has a great product at a fair price. It may not have all the bells and whistles some of the other systems have but they have a strong reputation and have been in business over 40 years, so parts should be available in the future. The flexible furler also appeals to me. Should I need to take the mast down there is a lot less chance of bending or breaking the foil components. One of the other big advantages of CDI is the self-cont...

I bit the bullet here and decided it was time to suck it in and climb my way to the back of the Typhoon.  This has been some time in the planning but just hasn't happened until today.  I've been using my Genoa blocks for my Spinnakers for sometime now. With the new full mast length spinnaker the time has come to set up some proper blocks at the stern of the boat.   Into the black abyss Sky light. Thru bolts In the following picture you can see the difference this will make.  When I'm heading up I can get a lot more out of the kite turning 10-12 degrees higher. Genoa, Spinnaker blocks  For my final set up I plundered the blocks and stand up springs off my ice boat. The mount is through the taft rail one bolt and the rear is actually a screw.  I was a bit worried a bolt on the aft might puncture the hull.  I can tie off the sheet lines at the rear dock cleats or run my line backup into the cockpit. Final set up