I actually did a wrote up on securing the mast a while back, try a search on the forum. By now we have 7002 postings and I don't exactly remember when I wrote it down.
But in summary. The mast on the Taipan is not a stiff pole by any stretch of the imagination. You'll need to secure it very well for it to survive any harsh winds. Problem is not strength but resonance. Even a mild wind with the right exiting frequency can seriously vibrated that mast.
However I found that some very simple mods can make your mast totally resistant to anything the wind and weather can throw at it. I've tested it for many months out here on the beach at my local club and we had a few storms since then. Of course the platform needs to be tied down very well and rather tight, absolutely no slack may be in the tying down. The platform is only 55 kg and if it has room to move about then it will dig itself into more room and finally escape.
The mast when supported with only the three stays has a resonance frequency that is very common in normal wind patterns. Very bad for mast up storage. However if you use your mainsail halyard and spi halyard to stabilize the top of your mast in addition to using your mast rotation and boom to stabilize the rotation then you mast will stand straigh and still as a telegraph pole. By stiffening up your mast like this the resonance frequency has been place well outside the range that are encountered in wind of any type.
Roughtly
-1- tie teh start of your mainsail halyard off on the mast; the other end (which goes up and through the small block at the top) you tie off to the end of the boom near the outhaul line. Use the outhaul line to prevent the halyard from sliding along the boom towards the mast.
-2- Now use your mainsail traveller control line to pull the boom down. You do this but graping a loop (between the cleat and the car) and throwing this over the end of the boom. Now pull the traveller line tight and cleat it. Your mainsail halyard is now tight and pulls the top of the mast slightly backward. Also the boom and car are now centred and can't move to either side.
-3- Now pull in your rotation limiter towards the boom thus securing the mast in the way of rotation as the boom is well secured by the mainsail traveller line and cleat
-4- If you have a spinnaker setup then. Tie both ends of the spi halyard off to one another and pull the halyard through its cleat till the spi hayard is tight and its acts like a second foresay. This will go all the way up to the spi gate on the mast. Now the mast is completely secured in the fore and aft plane and the fixed rotation will prevent oscilations over its minor axis (side to side)
When things get really dicy then use the trapeze line to secure the whole boat to the ground in addition to the ties on the platform itself. If the mast can't move than the the platform can't either. I have adjustable trapeze line with a jam cleat and I use them to put some tension on the trapeze lines so the boat has absolutely no play anywhere.
I only use two tie downs for my platform. Coming up next to the hulls and I tie them off to my side stays. I then pull a peice of tough foam underneath the lines to get some real tension in them and to prevent the lines from rubbing on my hulls and layer of paint.
In the past I used to stabilize my spreaders with an extra line as well but found that that really wasn't necessary.
So my advice =
- 2 ties on the sidestays.
- Main halyard, boom, mainsail traveller line, mast rotation and spi halyard triangles to further secure the mast
- when required additional tie down using the 2 or 4 trapeze lines to fixed points on the ground neary
Fixed points in the ground must be really secure as the wind can pull out alot of simple stakes or poles. Easiest and best is just a planck or pole that is burried horinzontally at say 2 to 3 feet deep. Tie a line to the middle of it and use that as a secure point.
Good luck,
Wouter
