Seems that Acats frequently setup the mainsheet to be sheeted from the middle of the tramp. This setup was also used briefly on some Tornado's. Advantages were reported to be that the sheeting angle was better to either the helmsman or crew position, giving the ability to put more grunt into the line. Also, the traveller didn't pull to windward in certain conditions when sheeting hard.
Why then has this method not become more popular? Most/all of the tornado's have now returned to boom-end setups, albeit with rather trick cascaded purchase systems inside the boom.
Mike.
Try sailing with centre-sheeting systems doublehanded.
One more thing tacking and gibing are less easy with it. With systems on the mainbeam the skipper turn his back to the mast and can still largely control steering and sheeting. With centresheeting you will have to make a decision of how you turn your body and what you will control during the tack/gibe.
More and more Tornado's are going back to simple and effective systems. Spi sailing requires that. It may well be that centre sheeting is better but if it leads to too much complexity on board and slower manouvres then it is discarded. By sailing a simple and clean boat you win more speed than by heaving complex systems with rather small performance gains.
Or maybe it is just the newest fashion. You know how cat sailors are.
Wouter
The sloop tornado with center sheeting was superb with the center sheeting point in the center of the tramp. The sheet hand was centered on this point. The helm handed off the sheet in all but light air and was sitting on the boat for tacks and jibes. With the spin. The sheet hand has the chute and jib to manage. The helm is also on the wire and you can't cleat to the center point on the wire. Finally, downwind, You are at the rear beam and trying to control the sheet from the center point is difficult. During jibes. it is easy to kick it out of the cleat. In Miami, I noticed that only the Swedes were using a center sheeting system and they had moved the sheet point to the rear by 2 feet or so.
Take Care
Mark
The main reason for a central sheeting system on the Tornado's was to keep from sawing on the skippers legs with the mainsheet.
On a single trap Tornado with:
-the skipper on the tramp
-the crew working the mainsheet from the trap
-cleat on the rear crossbar
the mainsheet goes right over the skippers legs. It starts to hurt after a while.
The other advantages are it is easier to work on the wire, the skippers eyes are forward during tacks and gybes and you can tailor the mainsheet play
The big disadvantage is weight. The boom has to be stiff to take the loads. That big Marstrom aluminum boom is heavy and can be replaced with a light weight round tube.
Also a mainsheet system of 1/8” spectra and airblocks in the boom is lighter than either the conventional system or the mid tramp sheeting
With double traps, there is no advantage to the tramp sheeting on the Tornado unless you go faster with it.
On the A’s it’s a matter of preference and which system is faster for you.
On the Marstrom A with it's big stiff carbon boom, weight is not an issue. Plus the auto outhaul works well with it
I like tramp sheeting by a very narrow margin
An a-catter once told me that he prefered centre-sheeting because it is more comfortable that way when doing the wildthing sitting in the middle of the trampoline. Not much of an issue on spinnaker boats were you want to be out to look around the spi anyway.
Wouter
Anyone got a Pic of this setup?
yes, I posted a bunch of rigging shots on the TornadoCat forum over on Yahoo. They are all in the photo album called "2004 US Nationals". You'll need to join the forum to view though.
PS I'm trying to upload some pics to this site, bit so far it ain't working...