Chris,

Wire Rope: Wire rope strands are circular and many strands are wound together to make "wire rope" ... the discription 1x19 means you have a single center strand with 19 more strands wrapped around the center strand .... so 7x19 means you have 7 center strands with 19 more strands wrapped around them. Now one style of wire rope is much more flexible then the other and therefore is used in different applications, standing rigging vs running rigging/halyards, Ok??

Dyform is a "high Tech" wire rope .... in normal wire rope all the strands a circular and therefore leave little spaces in between the strands when wound. In Dyform the strands are triangular (actually trapizodal) so that when wound together the strands are much tighter. Also the process of forming the strands into a trapizodal shape "work hardens"/strenghtens the strands resulting in stronger wire rope for the same size diameter .... some people like Dyform as you can reduce the diameter but still have the same strength.

I used dyform when I replaced the diamond wires on my P19 mast when I installed a chute but I used the same diameter since I was looking for more strenght for the increased loading.

Story Time:

I was at Ocean City Md for a race and I knew I had a single broken strand in one of my shrouds. It was blowing hard enough that they cancelled the racing for the day ... so we put the Magnum wings back on my TheMightyHobie18 and two of my friends and I went out for a quick sail ... so we hopped some waves ... reached along and then came back in ... quick sail, Ok. We de-rigged the boat and there was ONLY three strands left intact!!!! That quick ... I said my prayers to the man above as he was looking over us that day ... for we were being STUPID IDIOTS on that day in those conditions!!!!! So don't do what we did, you may get lucky or you may not ....

So don't ask JW how he knows ... I would just follow his advise .....

Harry