Sail setting and sailing techniques

Quick hint. When tightening your diamond wires, take them off the spreaders, make the change then put them back on. It's fiddly but you'll do less damage.

Damage to what?

Doing this on the water could be challenging. <img src="<>/eek.gif" alt="eek" title="eek" height="15" width="15" />

¿Que?

Is it even possible for anyone but Chuck Norris to install the wires on the spreaders with proper tension?

If you have modern diamond adjustment (big threads) it is not a big deal but on older boats (like I suspect the Inter) you can easily strip threads on the turn buckles when adjusting.

Here is a resource

Photo is from the AHPC Viper tuning manual, there is no need to be Chuck Norris.

But why would you do that??

It takes non-design loads off things. Arjan ripped the mount at the base of the mast out of his mast when tightening the diamonds. Probably because when doing up turnbackle the rivets holding it in place were put in tension rather than shear by the lever from his spanner. Had the wires been removed there would have been no load on this fitting during tightening and when the load was re-applied the rivets would have been in shear and possible would have stayed in place..

Thanks, but not for me. I had to do that with my A-cat and I hated it so I never changed them once I had them set at a medium setting. I had to wear gloves and put feet on the mast to get the diamond wires out to the end of the spreaders and even then it took me one rummy per side to get it done. To try that on an aluminum mast running more tension I think is just nuts. If you're adjustment system fails when adjusting it, it needs to be redesigned and/or fixed. The Infusion system (and the older I20 system) are perfectly happy being adjusted at the diamond wire adjusters and without pulling the diamonds off the spreaders.

Thats the point his system did fail.

His system didn't fail. The inter 18 is a pretty old boat, close to 15 years I suspect. Turns out rivets corrode....

Didn't intend to be a dick either, but rivets do fail and more than likely the carbon around the rivet failed. Had this happen on a N20 carbon spin pole last year.

G’day Arjan I did almost exactly the same shape change with the sails on my Taipan 5.7 the boat became faster but I regulary pitchpoled until I worked it out a bit. I learn’t in high wind to tie my battens in relatively loosly so the downhaul can flatten the sail not just improve the shape and lay off the top.
On a good reach with plenty of wind I've found in a gust it's much faster and safer to round down with the wind keeping both bows down near the water if you round up you have to go up a fair way to go through the wind way off course which lifts your hull a lot more ready for a knockdown if the gusts solid. If you round down no one can pick you off as your using the full wind strength and you come back up onto the original course as the gust recedes. For me I’ve found boards depend on the course, waves and wind, in big waves I need all of the boards to keep me higher and stop getting swatted off the side by the waves, as in my video on the other thread. Flat water very big wind around the 30 kts I’ve had leeward up windward down so as the gust lifts me right up the boat slides sideways and comes down again but it’s a wet wild ride.

If that reply came off

hateful

I apologize - I was in a hurry and a foul mood. <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

Didn't come across as hatefull, just a typical forum reply. As with anything in life there is a difference between what we all do and what we should do. In threads where people are asking for advice I always try and recommend the

best practice

solution (even where I don't apply it myself) so the person seeking help has all the info they need to decide themselves what they want to do.

Yep... I always try to find the best answer. Or the answer in between what will work out the best for me. Indeed around the pop rivets the mast has some wear, now we have fixed it again, and made the system usable again.

@Jeff Thanks, we'll keep it in mind, and also try to play a little with the battens. I think we're at a point where we just have to trial and error a bit