RS400 Spinnaker rigging
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: Dinghy classes
Forum Name: Dinghy development
Forum Discription: The latest moves in the dinghy market
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1130
Printed Date: 14 Aug 25 at 8:04pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: RS400 Spinnaker rigging
Posted By: Wes
Subject: RS400 Spinnaker rigging
Date Posted: 21 Oct 05 at 11:18am
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I've just taken delivery of an RS400 (second hand) and I'm having trouble rigging my spinnaker in acordance to the instuctions. These are as follows Thread the halyard as follows: · Through the forward block on the floor to starboard of the mast step.· Through the cleat and block on the forward starboard side of thecentreboard case. · Through a block tied on to the aft, starboard toe strap bar.· Through a block tied to the aft, port toe strap bar.Its all good upto the last two points where I don't have the blocks in the aft of the boat to thread through. Now, i can simply get some more and re-fit, but why are these not there? Is this a standard modification to RS400's? if so, why? Thanks in advance |
Replies:
Posted By: Chris Noble
Date Posted: 21 Oct 05 at 11:37am
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The reason they are not there, is , i am assuming the same for the 200 which i sail. You can remove the aft blocks because many helm and crews never have the helm hoisting the kite and thus never feed the halyard back that far. This allows the halyard to be shortened and for the cockpit floor around the helm to be freed up. If i am wrong someone please correct me. ------------- http://www.noblemarine.co.uk/home.php3?affid=561 - Competitive Boat Insurance From Noble Marine FOR SALE: I14 2 Masts 2 poles 3 Booms, Foils Kites/Mains/Jibs too many to list. |
Posted By: Stefan Lloyd
Date Posted: 21 Oct 05 at 11:46am
| Interested to hear that many 200 crews hoist the kite. I think if you generally sail in a crowd, the last thing you want at the windward mark is the helm with his head down pulling on the halyard. Better to have his head out of the boat defending clear air, even if it means the kite goes up a second or two later. |
Posted By: Wes
Date Posted: 21 Oct 05 at 11:59am
| Thats what I thought, but wanted to be sure. The surprising thing is that the halyard was not at all shortened leaving a load of spare in the cockpit. Still, its all the joys of a new toy! |
Posted By: crew_monkey
Date Posted: 21 Oct 05 at 12:00pm
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You've basically got two choices here Wes. 1. get two small blocks, attach one to each aft toe strap bar, then thread your halyard (under the thwart!) back through both these blocks, then forward again and onto the kite retreival patch. 2. cut 5 foot (ish) off your halyard, and once it's gone through the block on the fwd stbd side of the centreboard case attach it straight to the kite. The advantage of number 1 is that it does produce a slightly smoother system (difficult to explain why but it makes hoists a bit easier). The big disadvantage to number 1 is that the helm will stand on it (they say they wont but they do!). When you start sailing the 4 you will frequently see boats planing into the leeward mark with the helm yelling at the crew to get the kite down while he has his size 12 boot firmly on the halyard :-) I would go for option 2. BTW the helm never hoists the kite, even if the halyard is lead aft. |
Posted By: Stefan Lloyd
Date Posted: 21 Oct 05 at 1:51pm
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Really? In other similar classes many do. Whether they should is another question. |
Posted By: crew_monkey
Date Posted: 21 Oct 05 at 2:27pm
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Yep, they do (and I used to, from the back of a fireball) but I agree with you, at the windward mark the helm needs to have his head OUT of the boat. in my experience, approaching w/w mark, helm & crew agree gybe set vs bear away. Once you've gone round the mark the helm really needs to be looking for boats / gusts / shifts etc and the crews job is to get the kite up and pulling quick sharp.. the last place you want the helm looking is down at a halyard when there are lots of places to be made / lost! In the 400 it's set up for the crew to hoist but the helm still usually does the pole twinner. |
Posted By: furtive
Date Posted: 21 Oct 05 at 2:31pm
| Another option which works well (esp. with a girlie crew and a big helm) is to have the pole launch line led back to the helm. The helm can then launch the pole as the crew pulls the halyard up. You can set this up with a 1:2 reverse purchase so that one big (hard) pull launches the pole completely. |
Posted By: crew_monkey
Date Posted: 21 Oct 05 at 2:41pm
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yep, can see that working well, especially as you can get the pole launched safely before the bear away, unless it's really howling or you're on another boats transom. But generally on approach helm is easing kicker / playing with rig tension / trying not to hit anyone (maybe even looking upwind at the breeze if you're lucky)... so I would tend to leave this responsibility with the crew unless they are particularly feeble! |
Posted By: Calum_Reid
Date Posted: 21 Oct 05 at 10:40pm
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Defenetly shorten the halyard it removes friction, is soo much easier for the crew and is tidier! Dont go from the hoisting block straight to the kite though go through the block on the port toe strap fitting as this is much easier to do the first part of the drop.
have fun in ur new boat! excellent class which i am just moving out of! any other problems just give us a shout ------------- 
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Posted By: Wes
Date Posted: 25 Oct 05 at 11:59am
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Cheers for the advice guys.
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Posted By: Guest
Date Posted: 26 Oct 05 at 11:49am
I don't know of any asymetric two man class where the helm would hoist the kite. The only reason the helm hoists in a symetric kite boat is because the crew is putting the pole on; this is course not needed in a assy. The nearest you'd get is a B14 where the helm pulls out the tack line whilst the crew hoists the kite - this is because they don't have a chute ... Rick ------------- |
Posted By: Stefan Lloyd
Date Posted: 26 Oct 05 at 12:45pm
| Interesting. I'll admit I've only used asymmetrics on keelboats. However the RS400 still has a bowsprit that the crew must deploy. Couldn't the helm hoist while the pole is going out? http://www.aldeburghyc.u-net.com/rs400/tips.htm - http://www.aldeburghyc.u-net.com/rs400/tips.htm suggests that the helm hoisting is a possibility. |
Posted By: Guest
Date Posted: 26 Oct 05 at 1:29pm
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I believe it's a single pull system where by the pole goes out as the kite goes up; could be wrong. Anyway; if it's not that makes it the exception. Rick ------------- |
Posted By: crew_monkey
Date Posted: 26 Oct 05 at 1:46pm
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Nope, two separate bits of string. One to launch the bowsprit, one to hoist the kite. The crew lanuches the pole and hoists while the helm gets his head out of the boat sorts out his wing-wang (!) (the wing wangs are the control lines for the canting bowsprit) |
Posted By: Isis
Date Posted: 26 Oct 05 at 2:17pm
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I cant speak for the 400 but I find that in the more tame
family/training oreintated assymetric boats it is faster for the helm
to do the hoist. On the other hand in the skiff-types it is definantly
better for the crew to hoist and the helm to focus on keeping the whole
thing shiny side down and pointing in the right direction. There must come a point in the middle where it simply comes down to user preference and I suspect the 400 is pretty close to this point ------------- |
Posted By: crew_monkey
Date Posted: 26 Oct 05 at 3:53pm
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Hmm,, I would have thought that when you're racing, unless the crew has sonething better to do (like attach the sym spinny pole to the mast, as Rick said) then the crew should be pulling up the kite while the helm worries about the race. Don't think I've ever seen a helm hoisting at an open/champs (in a 400) Often (esp in a blow) the helm will take the windward sheet to stop any flapping. |
Posted By: Guest
Date Posted: 26 Oct 05 at 5:20pm
Righ oh; that makes the 400 the odd one out. Any reason for it being seperate? Rick ------------- |