In Praise of the Lazy Cradle

Besides the auto pilot, the one piece of equipment that makes shorthanded sailing easier and more enjoyable is my Lazy Cradle. Controlling a mainsail when you lower it can be a challenge even with full crews, but when shorthanded, it can be a bigger problem. However, with my Lazy Cradle, that problem goes away. A Lazy Cradle is a sail cover that is attached to the top of the boom under the mainsail and the upper edges are raised in place with the boat’s lazy jacks. The lazy jacks guide the sail down into the cover. With the Lazy Cradle I can literally drop my mainsail into the cover faster than a furling main can be rolled into the mast or boom. I just release the halyard and gravity does the rest. Coming into a harbor is no problem; just drop the sail and it is out of the way without the need to flake or furl. With the sail in the cover, you can concentrate on the channel and traffic instead of sail handling. Then, when I’m at anchor, I can zip the cover over the sail and then zip the front piece that goes around the mast and the sail is protected from the sun’s harmful UV rays until our next sail.