Maybe this is the explanation.

Do you cleat your main halyard on the mast? If so, 95 feet would likely be adequate.

However, on my boat the main halyard extends to a winch on the rear of the coach roof. This is the case on any C36 I have seen, and the 117 foot measurement seems correct for this configuration. 95 feet would be way too short.

See the Mark 1 manual pages 26, 27.

Cheers,
Graham

Rob,

For what it's worth, I raise my main sail at the mast anyway; the organizer, fairlead, and turning block add a lot of friction to the system.

At the mast, I go hand-over-hand on the halyard using my body weight and have it raised in no time.

I suppose I could add ball-bearing components everywhere in the halyard path and reduce the friction significantly. I already have the Tides Marine Sailtrack which is a big improvement.

Graham

Graham,

Glad to see I'm not the only one who does the dance between the mast & cockpit while raising the main. I installed a jam cleat on the mast to hold the halyard after raising while I go back to the cockpit and reel in the loose halyard and tighten up with the winch. A winch on the mast is on my wishlist.

Mike

I think all the 1983 boats have the halyards at the mast. For the main it actually works better for a number of reasons in my opinion. I think the 1985 model year came with a bunch of small changes including moving the cabintop handrails, leading halyards aft, switching to self-tailing primary winches, and a few other tweaks. 95' worked for me as well.

Stretch is the issue with halyards. I plan to replace my halyard shortly and I will look for the minimum stretch for the dollar. I won't go over 3/8" - I have an old issue of Practical Sailor which compared the cost and stretch for a large variety of lines, and the best deal was actually a slightly thinner higher tech rope compared to a standard sized low stretch line.

I'll search for the issue and report back.

BTW, the usual rationale for over-sizing lines like sheets and halyards is to make them more comfortable to handle. Strength is rarely an issue.

Cheers,
Graham

I found the Practical Sailor issue that reviews halyard line options - it's really complicated, hi-tech lines have special concerns, special splices, UV resistance issues, etc.

Maybe ask Jason what he uses, he races.

Graham

My halyard is 7/16 (actually it might be 3/8 but I don't think so) Sta-set but I have swapped out half of the core for Amsteel (Dyneema single braid) which is spliced to the core and then pulled through so that the loaded part of the halyard is low stretch. I put enough Dyneema in so that it still reaches the clutch when the first reef is in the main.

This would probably be overkill for most cruisers but I use a kevlar mainsail which is pointless if you hook it to a stretchy halyard!