How to break a mast...

Holly Hell!!!

The PING!! of death is near.

You don't need a spinnaker to break a mast. Last season, my mast folded in half (shredding a main that I really liked) when the rivets on my rotation limiter sheared.

It makes me wonder if an additional set of heavily raked upper spreaders/diamond wires similar to those used on skiffs wouldn't be worth considering.

sm

This hurts looking at this mast!

Don't cry, it's only an F16.

If you are talking about his picture
picture
then I would say that the mast is fine. The diamonds/spreaders saved the mast. If the diamonds had failed, then the portion of the mast below the shroud hound would have bent aftward instead of foreward.

GARY

The F16 Global Challenge is providing some excellent footage. The only

flat water and normal winds

we had was sunday, the rest is all above 20 knots with lumpy seas and gusts to over 25 knots. Many of us tripped over the

101th wave after riding the first 100 right

. It only takes a unlucky combo of a single wave, a gust hitting a the wrong moment and a small crew error.

Mast is okay, surprisingly. (these shots were actually taken on the

mild

sunday

)

These guys are a bit of posers because every time the camera boat is near they provide

action

shots. They saved it every time, which is unbelievable considering the stuff they are pulling. Two more examples here.

They are actually quite fast around the course, if they can find the exact position of the

pushing it too hard" threshold then will put in excellent scores. And that after only 4 months on the boat and something like 15 hours of sailing it before this event. THAT is a steep learning curve.

Here a link to a video file of a crew that was less lucky ! (I love camera shots from the mast)

Notice how the crew goes all the way up the mast to retrieve the skippers headgear !

http://www.formula16.org/videos/zandvoort1.mov

Wouter