Zac's forestay snapped 10 foot above deck. Anyone care to venture why
it snapped at that point?
This was new rigging and inside a roller furling.
Gordon

Gordon wrote:

Zac's forestay snapped 10 foot above deck. Anyone care to venture why
it snapped at that point?

He was born under an evil star?

At this rate, if he completes his trip, it'll be swimming whilst packing
whatever's left of his boat in his back pocket.

"Gordon" wrote in message
m...

Zac's forestay snapped 10 foot above deck. Anyone care to venture why it
snapped at that point?
This was new rigging and inside a roller furling.
Gordon

I'm guessing that where it snapped was the weakest point in the forestay.

On Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:29:17 -0800, Gordon wrote:

Zac's forestay snapped 10 foot above deck. Anyone care to venture why
it snapped at that point?

Possible hit from a spinnaker pole ?

Perhaps some fault within the roller furler created a chafe point ?

"Gordon" wrote in message
m...

Zac's forestay snapped 10 foot above deck. Anyone care to venture why it
snapped at that point?
This was new rigging and inside a roller furling.
Gordon


Ha ha ha! Told y'all so. The boy doesn't have a suitable boat and he doesn't
know what he's doing.

It's very easy to figure out why it broke ten foot above deck. Wind the
damned sail up and that's where the clue and sheets end up. Any rocking and
rolling of the boat creates a stress point right there. Stainless steel work
hardens and crystallizes when bent back and forth. Now, we all know how much
Zac motors - he's always relying on his motor and we've heard how rough the
seas have been a lot of the time when the wind was down and his was motoring
along rolling from gunwale to gunwale. Each and every time the sheets yank
on the headstay ten feet up where the clew wraps.

I've been telling you people for too many years to count that roll-up sails
are unseamanlike. This is just further proof. He was stupid to go to sea
with anything other than a selection of 6-8 reliable hank-on headsails for
any and all conditions of wind.

I hope this helps.

Wilbur Hubbard

On Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:29:17 -0800, Gordon wrote:


Zac's forestay snapped 10 foot above deck. Anyone care to venture why
it snapped at that point?
This was new rigging and inside a roller furling.
Gordon

Two plausible causes:
1) a kink pre- or post- installation was straightened out, but damaged
the lay.
2) a weak spot in manufacture of from in-situ corrosion.

Brian W

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote

It's very easy to figure out why it broke ten foot above deck. Wind the
damned sail up and that's where the clue and sheets end up. Any rocking
and rolling of the boat creates a stress point right there. Stainless
steel work hardens and crystallizes when bent back and forth.

This quite a plausible proposition on the face of it. I don't put much
tension on my sheets when stowing and this is probably a good reason to
continue that practice. I rely on either multiple rolls and/or a sail tie.

I've never heard of a headstay failure at this point though. Has anyone
else?

--
Roger Long

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
troll sh*t removed
This quite a plausible proposition on the face of it. I don't put much
tension on my sheets when stowing and this is probably a good reason to
continue that practice. I rely on either multiple rolls and/or a sail
tie.

I've never heard of a headstay failure at this point though. Has anyone
else?

If you've got a furler, then putting a "lot of tension" on the sheets will
make it virtually impossible to furl the sail. At least that's my
experience. In fact, more than a light hand on one or both sheets makes it
extremely difficult. I doubt that was the problem. I don't find it plausable
at all. I just looked, and according to the reports the forestay separated
at the chainplate at the bow not 10 feet up... not sure where that came
from? That was the report Nov. 6th.

Also, he's sailing a cutter rig, so no major rigging failure.


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

On Sun, 9 Nov 2008 15:10:11 -0500, "Roger Long"
wrote:

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote

It's very easy to figure out why it broke ten foot above deck. Wind the
damned sail up and that's where the clue and sheets end up. Any rocking
and rolling of the boat creates a stress point right there. Stainless
steel work hardens and crystallizes when bent back and forth.

This quite a plausible proposition on the face of it. I don't put much
tension on my sheets when stowing and this is probably a good reason to
continue that practice. I rely on either multiple rolls and/or a sail tie.

I've never heard of a headstay failure at this point though. Has anyone
else?

I also wrap the sheets multiple times around, but don't put much
tension on them. I always use a sail tie when leaving the boat. I made
it into a habit.

I think there must have been some pre-existing damage to that section
of the forestay. The new furler is a clue that something may have
happened to the forestay during installation. I really can't imagine
that a sound forestay would break from mere flexing unless it was MANY
years old - like past replacement time anyway.

I think he was talking about retensioning the sheets after everything is
furled. I've seen people do this. With enough tension, there could be
pressure of the foils on the stay at the point where the sheets come off the
wrap.

Thinking about it since, I can't believe it would be an issue on a new rig.

--
Roger Long