Running rigging: What could go wrong?

Hi AZEric,

Sounds good.

Be careful with high modulus halyards (HM-Dyneema) unless your mainsail and jib are of HM materials as well. If Dacron sails, it is easy to get too much tension on the halyard which only has one place to go: into the sail. Watch also when in gusty conditions as the same applies. With polyester halyards, some of the force of a gust will be absorbed by the polyester halyard and prevent the sail from being shock-loaded and make less likely the sail start to stretch and lose its shape prematurely.

One thought is to push yourself to reef early.

Another “hack” that gives the mainsail a break (unless you are racing) is to make the cross-haul line on the traveler of braided nylon rather than the usual choice of polyester braid. The nylon will stretch much more than polyester and absorb gust load. This will allow the boom to fall off a few inches when the main is hit by a gust or the boat is beating to wind and you are in and out of waves/swells which also loads up the sails. I can sit and watch my traveler adjustment line give an inch or so and then come back in these conditions.

Roller furling pennant lines should probably be jumped up a size from what came with the original roller furling gear. Most are undersized to my mind, especially for those skippers who occasionally roller reef their jib. Pennants change direction often, leads are often imperfect and loose pennants can get caught on things: so they are prone to chafe. The last thing you want in heavier air when your jib is reefed is to have your pennant chafe through and your jib to fly out now full of air and with no way to control it easily. Going up a diameter on the pennant makes that much less likely to occur.

Come back with questions/comments/thoughts.

My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy

When I bought my boat in 2023, which was built in 1991, it still had the original running rigging (which, needless to say, was totally shot), which had wire halyards spliced to braided polyester.  As part of the refit I replaced all the running rigging as well as the masthead sheaves, both because they were worn and because they were designed for wire.  I replaced the halyards with dyneema and the sheets with polyester.  I also replaced the furling line and the crosshauls on the traveler.  

Hi all,

For those reading the recommended Ocean Navigator (ON) article on inspecting running rigging, I have a few misgivings: first it is interesting, when I went to the url, that there is no author listed: no one person is accountable for the article. Very unusual and leaves ON as the entity responsible. I will send Tim Queeney, editor of ON, a copy of this posting.

My first misgiving has to do with talking at all about wire being used as running rigging. This may give the impression that wire is wise for running rigging on a sailboat. This is furthered by the article saying that wire to rope halyards are typically installed. I am sure there are some so outfitted with wire to rope halyards, but they are rare (in the hundreds of ocean-going boats I have spent time with, I know of none with wire to rope halyards. Some really old boats have all wire halyards.).

They are recommended as weight and space savings: if that is a concern, go with High Modulus (HM) rope: generally stronger than steel, weigh less and are far less demanding of attention (see article) than wire to rope.

A good portion of the article talks of the building of and maintenance of the wire to rope splice. That should be warning enough to stay away: go with HM rope where the only professional need might be to execute a splice.  

And, then there is the discussion of the Wichard Gyb’Easy Boom Brake: I find the following sentence confusing:

To keep your main sheet moving freely through the brake, the Wichard Gyb’Easy Boom Brake is the choice of many offshore sailors looking for smooth handling of their main sheets in all kinds of weather.

It sounds like a fundamental misunderstanding of the boom brake’s functioning: the main sheet does not go through the brake nor is it the choice of many offshore sailors, although that sort of sentence is so purposefully vague as to be largely unchallengeable. I do not know any who rely on one and, most experienced offshore cruisers I know have misgivings about the whole range of boom brakes such as the Wichard.

My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy