Fraculator ideas... Spinnaker net?

[svShearwater]

Just finished watching the video of Scott's rigging seminar. Good stuff. It got me to thinking about how to actually go about pulling the rig forward. Then I started wondering if you couldn't actually configure the spinnaker net which is affixed to the forestay and back to the base of the mast such that you could put a bit of tension on the forestay and pull the rig forward. That also seems to have the added benefit of keeping the forestay from flopping around wearing the top and bottom pins.

But does that actually put enough tension to pull the rig forward? Maybe it is necessary to attach the jib halyard to the furler drum in my case or the tack fitting for others and pull the halyard tight. Hmmm... I guess that it easy and effective. No reason not to.

FWIW the spinnaker net we are going with is just a luff tape with grommets in it. Atttach lines to the grommets and all lines then lead to the same point at the base of the mast. When we want to douse it, we lower the luff tape and stuff it in the anchor locker, leaving the lines attached to the base of the mast.

Surprise there was no mention or questions about preventers. We've got an easy to rig/unrig, effective setup I like a lot. Thin dyneema that is attached to the end of the boom and run forward to the front of the boom with a loop at the end. To rig, the loop is attached to a shackle on another line near the spreader bases that leads forward then aft to a clutch/cleat. Bonus is that it can be rigged in seconds, but is completely unobtrusive when not rigged.

[BobJ]

It's tough to fractulate a big rig like yours. The way Scott sets up big boats to do it (I saw it on a SC 52 he was finishing) is with a hydraulic ram under the mast step that lifts the entire rig, loosening the shrouds so the rig will tip forward. Very cool to watch but a bit extreme. The place to start is to take everything loose and see if you can move the base of the mast in the step. On a J/120, I doubt it.

Since most of the race is off the wind, I just took all the rake out and re-tuned the rig before the start. I had some lee helm in the light upwind part but then it was fine (and fast).

The trick with spinnaker nets is keeping them untangled. Mine is stored in a very organized bag with numbered clips so it comes out and goes back in the correct order. The bag and storage is the key to success.

Sounds good on the preventer - we had that discussion on that other forum.

Merry Christmas all!

[brianb]

The trick with spinnaker nets is keeping them untangled. Mine is stored in a very organized bag with numbered clips so it comes out and goes back in the correct order. The bag and storage is the key to success.

Sounds good on the preventer - we had that discussion on that other forum.

Merry Christmas all!

Per Bob's comments, organizing the spin net is super key. I have a set up just as Bob described. I had not used it in a few years. Prior to the race I spent a solid hour untangling it and re organizing the bag so that all the hanks and bag attach points for the hanks were color coded. Still it was apparent that you had to carefully follow the order of attachment and un attachment to not end up with a tangle. After dark hoisting can really cause grief if you get the order wrong. Your's has the advantage or using the luff tape, which would really help organization. If using hanks I would suggest a few practice runs in the dark to make sure ordering is correct.