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First you must move the sails that are in the forepeak on the windward side. If you do this before the tack, you can try to roll them (in long sausage like sail bags) from the high side to the low side, because the low side will soon be the new high side. You want this weight where it will help. But you have to be careful up there, because the bow is pounding up and down, and getting knocked sideways by the waves, as the boat continues to sail while you are setting up for the tack. You could easily get thrown across the forepeak if you lost your balance or your grip. Plus, our gennaker weighs 75 kilograms (165 pounds) and if you were to leeward and trying to guide it into its new spot – well let’s just say you don’t want it rolling on top of you as it could break a leg or arm, or pin you up there for who knows how long. Dominique Wavre, who had the boat before us, put 10 small 3:1 block and tackles in the forepeak to help pull and guide these sails. They work perfectly. Anyway, I got the gennaker rolled into position, then rolled the fractional gennaker downhill and on top of the gennaker, and I had positioned a big net that then could be pulled to the roof to capture the sails and keep them in place after the tack.
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