Rigg Refit and Modification

12 year of Charter-Duty:

The standing rigging has to be replaced!

Shrouds, stays, everything that is not used to operate the sails and would therefore be in constant motion is called standing rigging. The wire ropes used last 10-15 years, depending on usage and the sailing location. After "Five Senses" had to go into the yard to renovate the wooden deck, an exchange of this essential part of the rig was obvious after 12 years of charter operation. We used this fact to think about future sail equipment and possible changes to the rig.

There are two possible materials for shrouds and stays: conventional wire ropes that score with their robustness, durability and worldwide availability, or the more modern Dyneema. This is significantly lighter, also very strong, but susceptible to chafing. Availability is not always guaranteed and you need specific expertise to be able to carry out the installation. Since "Five Senses" is not a racing yacht at all and maybe longer trips are planned, we decided to stay with the existing material and again use steel wire.

Preparing to fly an asymmetrical spinnaker: Code Zero

The upper Adriatic is a light wind area and "Five Senses", weighing around 5 tons, is not necessarily a light-footed sprinter. So I wanted to amend our existing sailing wardrobe with a Code Zero. This is set in front of the forestay and therefore needs a mounting point in front of the genoa. A bowsprit would be best for this, but the conversion for such a retrofit was far too expensive for me at this time. A 49 foot boat was not just about the outrigger, it also had to be braced down with a water stay due to the expected forces. All in all, a larger scale project that also extends the boat forward and therefore complicates port maneuvers. The solution for now was much easier, inexpensive and still safe: a hole was drilled in the anchor cage on the pulpit at a suitable point and this was provided with a shekel. Very elegant and functional, I think.

Preparation on the mast

A Code Zero requires a much stronger halyard tension than other sails and the usual 1: 1 translation is usually not sufficient. The solution is to create a 2: 1 translation by mounting the halyard on the masthead, then running down to the anchor point and from there back to the masthead and finally being led into the mast in the cockpit to clamp and winch. Our mast was prepared for such an installation, but the necessary hardware at the mast top was still missing. This was made by hand and assembled with the mast lying flat. The halyard made from Dyneema was only pulled in later, but then everything was ready for the new headsail!

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