JIB TACK, JIB HALYARDS, AND JIB SHEETS.
The jib tack requires to be of great strength, and is made indifferently, accordingly to the judgment of the person who has the fitting out of the yacht, of rope, chain, or flexible wire rope. Rope does very well in vessels under 40 tons, but wire is to be preferred, and it is found to stand better than chain. The jib tack t is fast to the traveller a (Fig. 37), and leads down through a sheave holes at the bowsprit end (inside the cranse iron) a block is shackled to the end of the tack through which the outhaul is rove. The standing part of the outhaul is put over one of the bitts with a running eye ; the hauling part leads on board by the side of the bowsprit.
A single rope inhaul is gene rally fast to the traveller.
The score in the end of the bowsprit has necessarily to be very large, and fre quently it is made wider than it need be ; at any rate the sheave hole is a source of weakness, and generally if the end of the bowsprit comes off it is close outside the sheave hole, the enormous lateral strain brought on the part by the shroud k causing the wood to give way. To avoid such accidents as these one or two yachts have the sheave outside the iron, as shown by m. The tack n passes between two ears or " lugs " on the crause iron at o and p. To o the topmast stay is fitted, and the bobstay block at p. Of course if the score and sheave were put at m, the other score and sheave 8 would be dispensed with. Generally when the end comes off at the sheave s the bowsprit immediately afterwards breaks close off at the stem, unless some one is very smart at letting the jib sheets fly, or in putting the helm down. With the sheave hole at m no such accident would happen.
Jib halyards are, as a rule, made of chain, as it runs better, and the fall stows in a smaller compass when the jib is set; in fact, the fall is generally run through one of the chain pipes into the forecastle, where it helps a trifle as ballast. However, several large vessels, such as Livonia,
Modwena, and Arrow, have had Manilla rope. The jib halyards are rove through an iron (single) block (which is hooked or shackled to the head mingle of the jib), and then each part leads through an iron (single) block on either side of the masthead (see Fig. 30). The hauling part usually leads down the port side of the mast ; the purchase is shackled to the part that leads through the block on the starboard side. In vessels above 40 tons a flexible wire runner is invariably used in addition to the purchase ; one end of the runner is shackled to an eye bolt on deck, and the other, after leading through a block on the end of the jib halyard, is shackled to the upper block of the purchase. The purchase consists of a double and single block, or two double ; in the former case the single block is below, with the standing part of the tackle fast to it ; but where two blocks are used, the standing part of the tackle is made fast to the upper block. As a great deal of "beef" is required to properly set up a jib, it is usual to have a lead of some kind for the " fall " * of the purchase on deck, such as a snatch block. It is, of course, necessary to have a " straight " luff to a jib, but very frequently the purchase is used a little too freely; the result is that a link gives way in the halyards, the luff rope of the jib is stranded (generally near the head or tack, where it has been open for the splice), and sometimes the bobstay-fall is burst. (We once saw the latter mishap occur on board the Oimara during the match at Southsea.) These mishaps can be generally averted by "easing" the vessel whilst the jib is being set up, choosing the time whilst she is in stays or before the wind.
Jib sheets in vessels under 30 tons are usually single, but in vessels larger than 30 tons they are generally double.