Additional comments on runners from IXXIS, Olson 911S sailing in SF Bay..
Richard's comments are good. I would add the following.
I use high tech fiber lines for the runners, with a single block spliced on about two feet above the deck level. The runners are rigged with a two to one sheet from the center of the boat either side of the backstay., This prevents the runners from twisting the mast when tightened. In addition, I mounted nine foot fiberglass rods ( about 3/8 D) on both stern pulpit corners, with a ring spliced to the end of the rod. The runners each run through their ring, which keeps the runners aft and away from the boom when relaxed and prevenrts the runners from ever fouling on the boom. Works like a dream.
Ed
> The checkstay is used to add power back to the main when there is
sufficient
> backstay on that de-powers the main. The backstay is needed to tighten the
> headstay and give you pointing ability as the wind picks up. The down side
> is it de-powers the main when you put on backstay. Therefore the ability
to
> straighten the mast back up with a checkstay allows you to re-power the
main
> back up. Sometimes it will look like a serious backwind bubble in the
> main.Keep in mind that in more extreme wind conditions we want the main
> de-powered. We try to fly the battens only in blade conditions. We do have
a
> light to moderate amount of checkstay on in those conditions.
>
> The downside to checkstays is sailing downwind. The original MORC design
was
> a wire line from the bottom spreader and was lead to an adjustable genoa
car
> on the deck just inboard and aft of the shrouds. It had a 1 to 1 line to
> tighten it. The problem with this design was you have to pull both on in
> order not to pull the mast of center and their angle is not very
efficient.
> The beauty of them is that they are not in the way when sailing down wind.
> We moved the checkstay location on the mast to between the spreaders. They
> were then lead aft to either side of the backstay. This means you need a
> shock chord retainer system to pull them out of the way when released down
> wind. You also have to flip them out of the way when gibing the boom down
> wind. They add tremendous ability to add power to the main. This really
> helps upwind by re-powering the main and adding shape. There are pros and
> cons to each solution but I prefer my setup.
>
> We also found a need to have eye straps over the ball fitting on the mast
to
> keep them from accidentally coming out of the mast. This happened once on
> the way to a regatta where the ball fitting somehow popped out and we sent
> someone up in the chair to reattach it. Now the eye strap prevents them
from
> popping out.
>
> Rich Casnning
> Speelbound
>
>
>
Received on Tue Mar 25 12:15:23 2003