Forestay Sag and Rig Tuning

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   Yes, I'm man enough to admit it - I'm suffering from forestay sag! 

My 400e arrived earlier this year and I've started racing it a bit. At the moment, she can not point as high as competitors. The racing sails, and jib in particular, were cut with a certain amoung of forestay sag in mind but not as much as we have at the moment (have about 10 inches in only 10-12 knots of breeze). Before recutting the sail, we're trying to eliminate as much sag as we can. Generally speaking, more backstay tension seems to just bend the mast more (depowering the main) as opposed to lessening the forestay sag. So at the moment, those doing this tuning for me are playing with the shroud tensions. I'm not confident in their methods as they seem a little ad hoc. So I thought I'd put it to the forum.....

What has your experience been in getting the rig tuned properly and in reducing forestay sag as much as possible? Are these rigs notoriously hard to tune?

I know they have to be tuned fairly often, particularly when the boat is new. 

I just found this Selden guide on how to tune different rigs and this looks very interesting. http://www.riggingandsails.com/pdf/selden-tuning.pdf

I look forward to your comments
Steve

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Rubato Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admiral Joined: 12 July 2006 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 1806	Post Options Post Reply Quote Rubato Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Forestay Sag and Rig Tuning Posted: 12 May 2007 at 15:43
	Yes, I'm man enough to admit it - I'm suffering from forestay sag! My 400e arrived earlier this year and I've started racing it a bit. At the moment, she can not point as high as competitors. The racing sails, and jib in particular, were cut with a certain amoung of forestay sag in mind but not as much as we have at the moment (have about 10 inches in only 10-12 knots of breeze). Before recutting the sail, we're trying to eliminate as much sag as we can. Generally speaking, more backstay tension seems to just bend the mast more (depowering the main) as opposed to lessening the forestay sag. So at the moment, those doing this tuning for me are playing with the shroud tensions. I'm not confident in their methods as they seem a little ad hoc. So I thought I'd put it to the forum..... What has your experience been in getting the rig tuned properly and in reducing forestay sag as much as possible? Are these rigs notoriously hard to tune? I know they have to be tuned fairly often, particularly when the boat is new. I just found this Selden guide on how to tune different rigs and this looks very interesting. http://www.riggingandsails.com/pdf/selden-tuning.pdf I look forward to your comments Steve

Johan Hackman Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admiral of the Fleet Joined: 24 August 2005 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 4361	Post Options Post Reply Quote Johan Hackman Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12 May 2007 at 17:01
	Steve, if I got it right the only way to reduce forstay sag on the kind of rig that our boats have is to tension the cap shrouds, and that it should be done really, really hard. When you tension the lower and intermediate shrouds the sag will increase, so if you want the lower and intermediate shrouds to be tensioned hard, you really want to tension the caps even more. I haven't yet tuned my rig myself because I am too anxious it won't be done correctly. I have had somebody do it for me but I have watched them closely in order to learn how to do it myself. Johan
	http://www.johanhackman.se

Alex Faber Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Captain Joined: 11 June 2006 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 204	Post Options Post Reply Quote Alex Faber Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12 May 2007 at 20:42
	As far as I know, you will get the maximum safe tension on your forestay (without the use of running backstays) with exactly following the instructions in the Selden book. If you are not satisfied with the result, you will have to add the running backstays. To my experience it is not so difficult to sail with those with the type of rigg like on the Hanses.

Phoebus Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Lieutenant Joined: 05 December 2009 Location: Greece Status: Offline Points: 45	Post Options Post Reply Quote Phoebus Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 March 2010 at 16:41
	FOR YOUR REFERANCE IF YOU MAKE THE FORESTAY ADJUSTABLE AS I DID AND LOST THE FORESTAY LENGHT (AS U DID RUBATO - HARKEN TOGGLE IS DIFERANT THAN FACNOR)TOOK FROM SPARCRAFT Edited by Phoebus - 03 March 2010 at 16:58



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