On Tue, 1 Apr 2008 08:07:42 -0700 (PDT), wrote
this crap:

I have twin jib halyards and am planning to replace a headstay luff
foil. The twin foil has some advantages but is more bulky, I'm not
sure we will ever need to swap headsails on the fly.

Another issue is the spinnaker halyard.... singular. This is a frac-
rigged boat and the spinnaker halyard is run to a swivel block at the
hounds then up to a thru-block just below the mast head. I've been
thinking of taking the swivel block off and setting a masthead
spinnaker, then mounting another thru-block at the hounds and re-
routing the starboard jib halyard to become a second frac spinnaker
halyard.

Any opinions about the utility of these two configurations:
1- twin jib halyards, twin luff foil on headstay, single spinnaker
halyard
vs
2- single jib halyard, single luff foil on headstay, masthead
spinnaker + frac spinnaker halyards

Fresh Breezes- Doug King


Good question. I race boats, so I want the twin foil, and as many
halyards as is possible. If you lose one or it breaks, you always
need a spare. Same with the spin halyards.

If you're not racing, six of one, half a dozen of the other.




I'm Horvath and I approve of this post.

Any opinions about the utility of these two configurations:
1- twin jib halyards, twin luff foil on headstay, single spinnaker
halyard
vs
2- single jib halyard, single luff foil on headstay, masthead
spinnaker + frac spinnaker halyards


Bloody Horvath wrote:
Good question. I race boats, so I want the twin foil, and as many
halyards as is possible. If you lose one or it breaks, you always
need a spare. Same with the spin halyards.


Okay.
How many times do you change headsails during buoy races? My
observation is that it's pretty rare. Distance racing is a whole
'nother can-o-worms but we aren't planning to do any.

Spare spinnaker halyard(s) would be nice but I don't think it's going
to happen with this mast. Frac rig, internal halyards... it's not a
closely controlled one-design like a J-24, but there are limits to how
many holes I can cut in the mast.

DSK

On Tue, 1 Apr 2008 15:19:08 -0700 (PDT), wrote
this crap:


Bloody Horvath wrote:
Good question. I race boats, so I want the twin foil, and as many
halyards as is possible. If you lose one or it breaks, you always
need a spare. Same with the spin halyards.


Okay.
How many times do you change headsails during buoy races?

Are you talking upwind-downwind? Around the marks? Or around the
islands?

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

My
observation is that it's pretty rare. Distance racing is a whole
'nother can-o-worms but we aren't planning to do any.

Spare spinnaker halyard(s) would be nice but I don't think it's going
to happen with this mast. Frac rig, internal halyards... it's not a
closely controlled one-design like a J-24, but there are limits to how
many holes I can cut in the mast.

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





I'm Horvath and I approve of this post.

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.



Spare spinnaker halyard(s) would be nice but I don't think it's going
to happen with this mast. Frac rig, internal halyards... it's not a
closely controlled one-design like a J-24, but there are limits to how
many holes I can cut in the mast.

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


You could have three main halyards if you wanted them bad enough.

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

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

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