Hi all,
In 1999, we sailed the J/35 Great Scot (hull #46) in the Transpac.
(Taking first in fleet, thank you!) During the race we broke the spinniker
halyards 5 times! The halyards, which are wire at the masthead broke right
at the nicopress fittings. The plastic stoppers also wore down to nothing.
(They were squished by the two sides of the bracket slot.) I have the mast
down now and it looks like the upper bracket that protects the mast and
shivs is partially broken away and has serious groves where the wire rubbed
across it.
Does anyone have any suggestions about replacing either the halyards or this upper bracket? Seems like a bracket that was designed to hold the stopper balls would offer better protection. Or should I use new wire free synthetic halyards? Part of the problem was obviously caused by halyard stretch, but the last couple of times it broke, we were monitoring the halyard on an hourly basis.
Obviously, for around the buoys this isn't much of a problem, but it gets to be a real chore on an ocean race. (Nothing like being at the top of the mast when the chute is up and the helmsman is yelling, "We just hit 16 knots!")
Cheers,
Darren.
--
Darren Garnier | email: garnier@mit.edu
S/V Great Scot | home : 781-979-9107
J/35 - 87396 | work : 617-258-8997
| cell : 781-696-9203
Received on Mon Apr 30 14:22:50 2001