Aloha Andres,

Headstay sag on the 5.5 or other high performance cats is NOT good. The Hobie 16 has a wire in the luff of the jib which becomes the 'new' headstay. Do not try and tension the rig with the 5.5 jib - tighten the shrouds to maximize tension under load. The sailcloth ain't gonna tighten the rig. I noticed that when your crew was white knuckling the weather shroud there was too much play (despite the fish eye effect).

Now let's begin at the front of the boat. The bridle foil is designed to maximize rig tension without pinching the bows in and losing hull/foil alignment. Since there is no way to raise and lower the mast with the required tension for sailing we used to always leave one side loose for stepping. Once the main was up we pulled the traveler car over and sheeted the main to re - set the 'loose' shroud. Before we dropped the main, we would loosen one side in the same fashion as stepping it (reverse order). Make sure the Enterprise is pointed into the wind. Bottom Line - a loose rig and under - trimmed main can result in sudden mast failure due to snapping inertia, and less importantly the helm falls out of balance - oops, crash and burn.

The spreaders should be raked in harmony with the sail cut and diamond tension adequate to keep the mast straight (in column). Bend is bad unless it is fore and aft.

NACRA used to produce thin delrin chips, but I do not believe that is the case nowdays. When we were in a pinch we would sacrifice the soft plastic lid of a food container and cut it to fit. This protected the mast ball from wear and tear as well since we raced with a super tight rig. I have seen NACRA 5.2s come in after a day of sailing with a lose rig at the end of the day. After lowering the mast the owners were discovering their mast balls splintered. Be aware of flat - topped mast balls. Delrin is much kinder to mast bases than stainless.

The tighter rig will balance the helm, improve sail shape, and improve the gps numbers

Go Sailing, and if you would like some coaching buy me a plane ticket and put me up for a few days Maybe we could get you ready for a shiny new Farrier 22 (one of those "Klingon" tri hulls).

Bert Rice
NACRA 5.5 Discovery (I miss it)
Corsair 24 Mark Twain
J 29 Rush
Viper F 16 Snake Bite