One of our new club members has started rigging his downhaul in an interesting way
Rather than tying off to final pulley, hes been tying off to the mast base, then having the final sheet pulley loose. this allows better initial downhaul tension and when you haul in it doesnt bring the sheet pulley way back as rope is hauled in.
I tried it today and it is rather good.
Lynden comes from a Cat racing background, and explained that this system was what he used for quicker spinnaker hoisting.
Ive christened it the " Crockett Downhaul" 
until somebody else can prove they thought of it first
Crockett Dowhaul!!
I am not experienced in Sailing but Ropes and powerful hauls have had to be used on the odd occasions. The Crockett Downhaul makes a lot of sense, it is what I would refer to as an active system as, although the main down haul is tied off the sheet is still applying active pressure to the tied off rope and using the sail sheet preassure to actively alter its tension upward tightening the sail along the mast axis. For those of us that are aging or the less Physically attributed in the Musculature field (Damn! Where did that come from
). Under my logic I would say it would have great implications all round.
Ron
Good to see some close ups of how you guys get your luffs tensioned. Because we are running with such a variety of mismatched gear from tip shops and dumpsters we have had to resort to all kinds of ploys to get adequate purchase. Sometimes I wonder how things hold together, especially our Laser/spinnaker pole lump of wood combo mast. It thankfully now has assumed a pleasing degree of pre-bend.
Heath Robinson would approve I'm sure.
