Hey Hooper, none of the experienced sailors have weighed in so here’s two cents from my dory experience. I usually grab the main sheet and tiller extension in the same hand then pivot my body around the front of the extension, backside to the mast. It’s not graceful.  

What are you using for parrel beads? I’ve used 6mm braided line without beads on my lug rig yard. It does wedge tight sometimes but a thicker line eases the bind somewhat. This season I’ll switch to a smaller line with beads of HDPE material left over from another project. Probably can turn a 5/8 bead and I hope they are slippery enough to spin on the line and slide on the mast. Best part - no BLO required ;-p

Cheers,
e

   I have the lugsail rig on my skerry, not the sloop, so the lines may fall a bit differently.  However, I always keep the tiller handle in my right hand.  On starboard tack, I'm generally leaning over to the starboard side, so tend to rest my right hand with the tiller in it on the starboard gunwale.  On port tack, I'm usually slid to the port side somewhat, but the tiller is long enough with enough pivot that it just stays in my right hand and comes along with.  On longer tacks, I seem to wind up using my knee as a prop for my right hand with the tiller in it.

   Had her out yesterday on Lake Norman.  Again, too much wind.

 This is the same rig that the Passagemaker uses, if any Passagemaker owners want to chime in.  The manual just says to tie some string through the throat of the sail and around the mast for a parrel.  I bent the mainsail on with para-cord so I just used a piece of that.  I tried some Walmart wooden craft beads for parrel beads, but they haven’t helped at all.  I think some holes are going to have to be drilled in the jaws to get the correct angle.

 Tacking is still awkward, but getting better.  I’m going to have to continue switching hands.  To use the same hand on each tack would be like learning to sail all over again.  Then I would have problems in other boats.

It’s hard to get this boat in and out of the water because so many people come over to admire it!  I even had to pull off the interstate because another driver kept waving and pointing at the boat.  I thought it might be coming loose or something.  He just wanted me to know he liked it!

Hooper

Here’s what I think I know about parrel beads.
HDPE turns easily. I cut out a 3/4 square x 9" long section of material left from a table saw fence makeover. Put it on my wife’s lathe and ended up with a strong 5/8 diameter bead. Well maybe bead is too generous, think cylinder with rounded edges. Apparently turning beads is an acquired skill, who knew. Made a little jig to drill the over sized center hole after they were cut free of the blank. Used the same jig to chamfer the hole with a countersink bit. Although they work with 1/4 bradded, I'm using 1/8 bradded line as I find it easier to tie to the yard. They are really slippery and spin and slide quite well with various amounts of slack in the line. Really happy with how they function. Pretty embarrassed about how they look.

cheers,
e

Thanks e.  I drilled holes in the jaws and mounted the parrel through them for a better angle.  It has worked fine since then.  I'll get a picture of it up when I get a chance.

Hooper