A beast for a beast

In 2014 Royal Huisman unveiled a new 58m sloop project. The special request of the owner: “Build me a beast. Don’t build me a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This has to be an edgy and innovative weapon; Fast and Furious.” As an answer on the question to innovate, AutoLock built a Square Top Main AutoLock with a breakload of 60 tons. This innovative lock is special designed for square top sails. The main headboard car is equiped with two locks in one that will lock the main sail car and the square top. With the extremely high workloads existing systems require large holes in the mast for the locks. Besides the large holes, the existing systems are a lot heavier then the AutoLock headboard car that only weights 60kg and still has four locking positions. The main reason for this weight improvement is the eliminating of the Headboard platte and three locks in the mast, which is also a benefit to the budget. In addition to the weight advantage, the Square Top Main AutoLock system doesn’t require any changes in the automatic hoisting system and furling booms. Just by hoisting the sail with the main halyard, the lock will automatically lock the roach boom at the up-stop position. video… After locking the roach it can easily be hoist to the desirable position. The Square Top Main AutoLock system is the answer on the question for square top sails on large sailing yachts.     Source