Test Sail

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Fri 24 Sep 2021 05:20

Position: Gulf of St Vincent
Course and Speed:various
Wind: SW F4-5

Weather:
cloudy with sunny patches, mild

This morning, having gotten Sylph into some sort of order, we went for a short sail. The breeze was reasonably fresh, ideal for testing out the new rigging.

A minor issue I have been experiencing with Sylph over the years is a lee helm tendency, particularly in light airs. With a view to perhaps reducing this tendency I had the rigger lengthen the forestay about 10 cm to rake the mast aft a little. Unfortunately this seems to have now created a problem getting sufficient tension on the forestay. I presume the problem is that the mast is standing square on its base and is resisting our attempt to rake it aft. Luke, the head rigger, thought the slack in the forestay was likely acceptable but the test sail appears to have confirmed my concerns. As well as the forestay sagging badly to leeward when on the wind, when we sailed off the wind with the headsail furled the backstay was also very slack, which I was not expecting.

I have discussed these issues with Luke and we have decided to sit on it for the weekend and discuss a way ahead to rectify these problems on Monday.

All is well.

Sagging forestay:

m_DSCN0723