Gary,



Picked up this tidbit off an article by Peter Bentley on the Sailing Pro Shop site (All About Rope).



"If it is a rope you pull on, it's a fair bet that the load will not be more than about 20kg, perhaps 50kg [110 lbs] top whack if you are a big man. Multiply this up through the various purchases and it's easy to work out what the load is at any given point. Take care though with lines that are cleated Off. It's easy to pull the kicker in with one hand when the sail is flapping but just think what the load might be when it's locked off and the boom end smacks into the back of a big wave. That's when things break."