Travellers - front and rear.

[nfbr]

I have large travellers for jib and main, both with lines (2x advantage) to each end to control the car travel.

I notice some newer boats having for the front traveller, just a single line that pulls to centre, vs a line from each end. Any comments?

For the main, it means they are on two winches full time for the traveller. How is yours setup? Clutches and one winch? Under heavy loads, sometimes I do need to winch it leeward vs windward due to sheet loads. I'm debating going to clutches and a single winch, but I'm not sure about controlling the windward traveller line whilst pulling to leeward.
A line driver fixes this, but it's much more $$$.

Thanks

[JebLostInSpace]

My main (Hunter 410) is on a 4x advantage and I control it by hand without winches. Will depend on mainsail area and position of the traveler on the boom if this is reasonable for you. Mine is positioned on the end of the boom, which is nice because it keeps it out of the cockpit, but restricts how much travel I actually get. The side benefit is more leverage for controlling it. I also just crewed on a Centurian 49 with a much larger sail area than mine. It was also controlled by hand with no winch and a 4x advantage if I recall correctly. Both my setup and the Centurian 49 were secured with cam cleats, no clutches.

Since I cruise and don't race, I very rarely haul the traveler to windward. I ease it over before a tack so that it's no effort on my part. If you race this will naturally be an unacceptable solution.

I only have a big genoa, so no traveler forward for me to comment on. But I have sailed a little 30' schooner (built on Bluenose's lines, really a pleasure to sail), which had the single traveler control line. It worked fine, but that was a very small sail area.