How does the Streaker rig work

Slack Blaze rigging ?

No great secret ... the M7 is/was a great mast .... and particularly for the 470 and Fireball.  For the Blaze and I suspect a number of other single-handers it is/was way too stiff.  Slacker rigging can help as does slacker lowers and later on we also adopted articulated (swiveling) spreaders.  It is an advantage in terms of sailing by the lee ... the Blaze main is a high aspect design with 3 adjustable full width battens up the top.  So you do want to sail by the lee ?  Just ease the kicker offwind a tad and the top of the sail goes a long way forward - articulating the spreaders in addition means the leeward one can also 'go forward' and this helps further still.  The M7 is usefully light for an alloy mast btw.  All this has been known since Noah was a  spotty squaddie ...

The real advantage of a stayed mast is you can set it up very easily for a very wide range of helm weight.... using just the one standard suplied mast - and they can be both light and low drag as support triangulation is naturally so much better than for an unstayed rig.   The diameter can be less, the wall thickness less and so on.   In unstayed classes that allow it it really really helps to have the mast stiffness and therefore construction 'matched' to the helms weight and height - ie tailor made for 'you'.  This really is one instance where one size does and cannot really be made to fit all optimally ! Stayed masts can also very easily be adjusted to suit - unstayed have the stiffness characteristics built into the mast walls - so are bloody difficult to then change if made  of alloy/carbon.   Though there are some devious methods if you have the right 'facilities' if not strictly legal in 'off-the-shelf' classes. (As teenagers we used to plane and sand wooden OK masts down to 'suit' - and even sometimes too far- even if it was allowed !)  Modifying one-design unstayed carbon masts once made is much more difficult of course  ;-)


Edited by Cirrus - 15 Nov 16 at 2:24pm

Originally posted by Sam.Spoons but I'm also curious as to why sloppy rigs work on  the Blaze (which has a deck stepped mast and lowers).

Originally posted by ifoxwell Hi Jim. I get your whole post and that understanding was the driving force behind the question. In a normal stayed/spreader rig the tension can affect this interaction and thus give you control over whats happening. So although you say  Originally posted by JimC So a single sail boat without spreaders has a lot more options for how tight or loose the rigging is. on one hand that makes sense but my question is really to what end? Ian99's reply has come closest so far to something I follow but I still wonder if I'm missing something.  Ian

Edited by Sam.Spoons - 15 Nov 16 at 12:06pm

Originally posted by JimC ... (double diamonds?). ...

TBH I've seen so many theories about tighter or slacker rigging on single sail boats over the years, many contradictory and all seemingly backed by race results that I hesitate to offer any conclusions or even suggestions.