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Back in the earlier days of windsurfing sails came with clew holes for both the outhaul and downhaul. Back then my downhaul rope was permanently threaded through a pulley block that was hooked into the downhaul clew hole. It was a quick and easy process to hook the block into the clew and then downhaul the sail.
It could have been around the late 90s sail manufacturers started replacing downhaul clew holes with integrated pulley blocks. I bought some Sailworks sails around 1998 and found they had the integrated clew block. The integrated block was not as good as the pulley block I had used.
Since then almost all sails sold appear to have integrated pulley blocks. I can understand it would be horrible to downhaul a sail through a clew hole and some people would just thread the rope through the clew and then complain about it. However having a pulley block threaded to the downhaul and hooking it through the sail's clew would make rigging up a little bit easier and quicker.
Its just a little thing but in a way it seems like integrating pulley blocks into sails has been a step backwards, making rigging a bit more complex and time consuming than it could be.
Ezzys sails come with a detachable block on the tack of the sail so you can remove it and use a hook if you like. So there's your answer!
BTW the CLEW is where the outhaul attaches - the TACK is where the downhaul attaches. The reinforced hole in either is a GROMMET. A pulley is actually properly called a BLOCK. Pulleys are what landlubbers call them.
Those roaches look different to the ones I remember from my youth. - was leaf roach and head roach
Thanks for sorting out the terminology ikw777. Next time I see an Ezzy sail I'll check it out.
Interesting. I wonder if having a grommet stitched into the tack would be the way to go. I'd need a sail maker to do it. One possible benefit would be the gap between the sail and the tackle would be less. Yeah showing my age here. Also showing my age that my favourite sail of all time is a North Ezzy Wave 5m and my favourite board was a Bombora proto.
