Symetric Spinnaker

yeh i cant really see how having the outhaul and cunningham forward is going to work coz u cant really get the crew to do the ajustments coz the helm knows better what the sails doing/wants.

as for the strut, hmm i dont reckon chocks would be any good for us, theyd get blasted out by the water that tends to rush about on the foredeck!!!! thats a narrow bow for ya!!

skiff styl main is a good idea tho then the crew can play it with a much better purchase angle and view.

are you going to the worlds? or better still the brightlingsea open? if so fancy showing off your layout?

Getting rid of the strut removes quite a bit of string - it's not the best system anyway as it's very difficult to replicate exact positions. That's been replaced with chocks on my new boat.

The outhaul and cunningham are staying well and truly at the front on the mast and boom.

Jib sheet sideways position is not as vital as the up/down and has been implemented with sliders and plungers.

Obviously the loose string (mainsheet, jibsheet, spinnaker sheet) remains, but I'm currently thinking about doing the mainsheet skiff style with the ratchet on the boom - this will really open up a lot of space in the cockpit. This will mean I can't have a mainsheet cleat, but with shorter races the "getting tired" reason for using it has gone, and I very rarely cleat the mainsheet now.

I would post a photo, but the boat is very string free at the moment as most of the fittings are still in a box in the garage rather than screwed on the boat

If there's string in there you don't use at least once a race, rip it out and replace it with something simpler.

I'm currently fitting out my new boat, and when I eventually get it on the water I expect some people will be suprised just how simple it is. (only kicker, pole height and jib leech tension are led back to the helm).

I'm a bit worried it might come in underweight when I get it measured though

One of the great things about boats like the fireball is you can set them up how you want.

I know what sort of pole i'll be using thou

If your normal pole is popping off the mast, I presume its one of the blue super spar ones. Replace it with a re-enforced one with z-spar ends - should be cheaper than putting a self launcher on and loads quicker to gybe (you'll find this out at the first gybe mark if you're going to the worlds!!!).