DSK wrote:
Bart Senior wrote:

You are sailing a Cheetah 30 downwind in the
trades.

Specs of the boat.
http://www.bana.com/cheetah/c30spec.htm

Conditions. 35 knot winds, 15' seas 15 seconds apart.

You have an asmmetric up and full main hauling ass
when your main starts coming apart. You do not
have a spare main.

What steps should you take next?


Hit the rewind button


What should you not do? (i.e. you should have one
big concern--what is it?)


A couple of big concerns. A boat with a long sprit & a big A-sail like
this will not like heading up, in fact it will probably refuse to do so
and the attempt couold knock the boat down or break some important part
of the rig. So you have to carry on downwind.

Another concern is the loss of support for the mast from the leach of
the main. If you leave the chute up, and try to take the main down, you
will probably break the mast.

The first thing I'd think about is whether or not the thing will hold
together long enough to get into sheltered water. If that's out of the
question, then getting the spinnaker down is the first step.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

I'm with ya. Get the kite down. But I would like to clarify, where is
the main parting? Would a reef get the torn part of the main out of the
wind?
My primary consideration: I would be concerned with losing the main
completely and not being able to blanket the kite to get it down. If
the main is coming apart the kite can't be far behind. Assuming 8 oz
dacron versus 1.5 oz nylon.

Gary