ILCA Deck Cleat Plate with Harken composite cam cleats & Quick-release fairleads

Description

ILCA Deck Cleat Plate with Harken composite cam cleats & Quick-release fairleads

The Quick-release fairlead is as it name suggests is designed for quick & easy un-cleating of the line.

If you have difficulty un-cleating the control lines (more likely to be the Cunningham) when approaching or rounding the windward mark then consider this fairlead as an option to the more widely used “X-Treme” fairlead.

This happens because the angle the line takes between the top of the cleats “lead in” fairlead & the top of the Quick-release fairlead is steeper than between the top of the cleats “lead in” fairlead & the top of the “X-Treme” fairlead & so the line is slightly easier to un-cleat. (This can be explained by the parallelogram of forces theorem.)

The downside of this fairlead is that cleating the line is theoretically harder because the line tends to ride up the curve & away from the cleat. That might be true to an extent in lighter winds however, in practice this does not seem to be problem because in lighter winds less strength is required & in stronger winds one is pulling from a sat out position when the line conveniently runs around the cam which is vertical.

Like many things it comes down to fine margins, what you get used to & personal reference.