Hello gents,

Wouter, on an 18 we don't have 20mins to haul the spinnaker up and play with moving shroud bases. Like TA said, the boat relies on pure grunt; the wing mast could be beneficial if you could figure out a system that worked efficiently. One day someone will, right now there isn’t the need for one.

As the poor bowman (yeah right I love it!!!) on one of these craft I can tell you that the spinnaker loads are out of this world. I have sailed on a F18 with TA in 30+ knots and there was no comparison between the sheeting loads.

The wing mast has been experimented with a long time ago but then was shelved after a fair few of them blew up downwind under spinnaker in 25 knots.

For reference the number 1 spinnaker on an 18ft skiff is approximately 750ft^2. That will vary from boat to boat as the sail sizes are unrestricted.

I have blown up a rig breaker before trying to get the rig tension on and whilst wave jumping in 20 knots on Sydney Harbour snapped 6 of the 9 or so strands which comprise 4mm wire. I think you could say the 18 rig has a fair bit on. Must be off now chaps, lovely chatting to you.

Cheerio
T_E