On Wed, 2 Apr 2008 08:18:57 -0700 (PDT), wrote
this crap:

How many times do you change headsails during buoy races?

Bloody Horvath wrote:
Are you talking upwind-downwind? Around the marks? Or around the
islands?

Answer: None. depends on the wind. Really depends on the weather.


Sorry, must be different terminology. "Buoy races" = around marks,
generally races of not more than ten miles or 3 hours. Generally the
races include reaches, not just W-L. I'm not planning on doing any
distances races, ie longer point-to-point races that may run offshore
and/or overnight.

Buoy races can be upwind-downwind, olympic triangle, and around marks.
I've done races that are less than an hour, and some that take several
days. And on the longer races, the weather changes, and you have to
make sail changes.

I agree. But I've found that the more halyards you have, the better.
Hell, I'd have three main halyards if I could.

On those rare occasions when a crew loses a halyard, I let them know
just how bad a F-U it is.... boats & lives have been lost that way.
Haven't done it myself for many years but it's always possible to make
a mistake.

It's also possible to go up the mast after a halyard, even on a small
boat. I went up the Lightning mast... while sailing to windward...

DSK


Not me. My mast is sixty feet tall.




I'm Horvath and I approve of this post.

wrote:


It's also possible to go up the mast after a halyard, even on a small
boat. I went up the Lightning mast... while sailing to windward...

Hmmm,... musta had some pretty good rail meat?

Cheers
Marty

wrote:
jakeraker wrote:
What you have is side-by-side vs. something like this?

http://www.tuffluff.com/images/6008_foil.gif


That looks like the old luff foil, which had several crimps in it.
What I have now is nothing.

More halyards are better... you might lose one.


Up to a point. It's difficult and it weakens the mast to add internal
halyards, plus there are limited options on where to lead them.

Couldn't the lower spin halyard be used as a jib halyard in a pinch?

Cheers
Marty

"Martin Baxter" wrote in message
...
wrote:
jakeraker wrote:
What you have is side-by-side vs. something like this?

http://www.tuffluff.com/images/6008_foil.gif


That looks like the old luff foil, which had several crimps in it.
What I have now is nothing.

More halyards are better... you might lose one.


Up to a point. It's difficult and it weakens the mast to add internal
halyards, plus there are limited options on where to lead them.

Couldn't the lower spin halyard be used as a jib halyard in a pinch?

Cheers
Marty


I imagine so.. better than nothing.

Up to a point is certainly true... I don't think one extra would make that
much difference, unless it's truly a room issue inside the mast. Why not
just replace the foil with a new, old one similar to what shows in the
picture. That would solve (mostly) the windage issue and you can still have
two.

What do you have to do inside the mast that would weaken it when you add an
internal halyard?

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

It's also possible to go up the mast after a halyard, even on a small
boat. I went up the Lightning mast... while sailing to windward...

Martin Baxter wrote:
Hmmm,... musta had some pretty good rail meat?


Comes under the heading of "Stupid Boat Tricks" but at least I got the
damn spinnaker halyard back. Fortunately it was only wrapped around
the spreader, if it had gone all the way up, we would probably have
had to capsize the boat & swim for it, or else just give it up for the
day.

One fairly experienced crew (who was goggle-eyed throughout the
procedure) and one total newbie. Experienced crew steered, giving
priority to keep ing the boat under me... he said it was kind of like
driving a bicycle... the newbie's comment was "gee, sailing is more
exciting than I thought."

DSK

"Martin Baxter" wrote
Couldn't the lower spin halyard be used as a jib halyard in a pinch?



"Capt. JG" wrote:
I imagine so.. better than nothing.


Yep... seems obvious once stated, but I hadn't thought of it... it
would be a good idea to try it out dockside, and see what issues there
are with geometry & chafe etc.


What do you have to do inside the mast that would weaken it when you add an
internal halyard?


It's not inside the mast, it's cutting into it to mount hardware.
Every internal halyard needs two big holes to go in (usually with a
turning block mounted) & out, plus some smaller holes for fasteners.
It cuts the tension wall (front face) of the mast and reduces the
section.

I don't know the technical specs on my mast & it's section, so I have
no idea how close to the limit it is. The tuning guide suggests
initial tension of 700# on the upper shrouds which strikes me as a
heck of a lot for a 23' boat.

DSK

wrote in message
...
"Martin Baxter" wrote
Couldn't the lower spin halyard be used as a jib halyard in a pinch?



"Capt. JG" wrote:
I imagine so.. better than nothing.


Yep... seems obvious once stated, but I hadn't thought of it... it
would be a good idea to try it out dockside, and see what issues there
are with geometry & chafe etc.


What do you have to do inside the mast that would weaken it when you add
an
internal halyard?


It's not inside the mast, it's cutting into it to mount hardware.
Every internal halyard needs two big holes to go in (usually with a
turning block mounted) & out, plus some smaller holes for fasteners.
It cuts the tension wall (front face) of the mast and reduces the
section.

I don't know the technical specs on my mast & it's section, so I have
no idea how close to the limit it is. The tuning guide suggests
initial tension of 700# on the upper shrouds which strikes me as a
heck of a lot for a 23' boat.

DSK


It seems a bit high, but not extraordinarily so... J-24 uppers are in the
500 range I believe... but doesn't it depend on the expected wind speed?

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com