I am wanting to move mainsheet block on our Taipan 4.9 from the middle of the tramp to the rear beam for two people. What is the best mainsheet block to use?

I'd recommend Harken, but it's not cheap. What have you got at the moment? You should go for either 7:1 or 8:1.

Paul

It is 7 to 1. Is there a big difference between 7to1 and 8to1, would it help my wife being the skipper having the 8 to 1, or is it overkill? What size line width and length? How long with traveller? for a continuous line.

I am interested in this as with my current set up which is the main sheet not running through a centre block it is a pain as i have to keep leaning back to adjust the main. I am planning to run the main through a tramp centre block which gives me good accessibility.

I use a 7:1 and when it is time to pull the mainsheet, at times I wished I had a 8:1

Hi All

Standard rear sheeting on the taipan at the moment is a harken HK2619 - Triple carbo ratchmatic with becket, with a 40mm single block attached to the becket, and a HK2654 Quad block. At a cost of around $500AUD its a fair investment.

The mainsheet is 8mm, 9metres long $30AUD Just bought one last week as well as a twin tail traveller rope $16.50AUD.

Regards

IMO you need at least 8:1 when you are singlehanding. It tires you out so much quicker if you don't have enough purchase.

Last season I sailed with a 6:1 with a 10mm or 7/16" main sheet with Ronstan blocks. This year I have 7:1 with 8mm or 5/16" sheet with Harken blocks. At the moment there's not a lot of difference, the extra purchase seems to make up for the thinner sheet size. I definitely haven't noticed the difference in the amount of sheet length which requires taking up when manouvering.

Last time out with my Blade, singlehanding in 12-15+ knots and better wind, I became convinced that the 7:1 mainsheet systems they have today don't pull nearly as easily as the old 5:1 I used years ago. Seems like I have to pull with both hands now. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> Same for the spin sheets. Just spent some change getting a couple of load sensing rachet blocks to add to the spinnaker setup and transferred one of the 40mm Harken singles to the main system to make it 8:1.
John D.

The 1:7 system do indeed pull harder on the leech then the 1:5 systems of the past but the modern mainsails do require alot more leech tension then the mainsail of say Hobie 16's etc.

Personally I think it is more effecient to find your self a really flexible sheet line of a modest diameter. This will have significantly less friction in the system and allow you to pull harder on the leech. Best is to also have a second ratchet on the mainsheet just like on the spi sheet.

Wouter

just tried double ratchet system on my taipan last week
yes there's less load BUT try to go wild and you end up going for a swim (BUGGER) maybe it was the ratchet i was using ,anyway i dont think i'll try it again cant win races while swimming

I should have said use AUTOMATIC ratchets and/or a spinnaker. Doing the wildthing is a thing of the past with a spi.

WOuter

Guys what is the wildthing....

Hi Kingcowie

Basically its flying a hull downwind, common practice in the A Class, Taipan Sloops can do it, Cat Rigged Taipans not really, however when the new mainsail, it should be easier to get a hull up.

You gybe downwind using angles rather than running straight down.

I've seen something written up about it somewhere, I'll have a look later and see what I can find.

Regards

To sail a good cat fast I reckon you should always have one hull out of the water, 50% less wetted hull area must be quicker. As for big bumps and bigger capsizes, it's all part of sailing. Isn't it?
But having said this the F16 and probably Taipan as well are probably one of the most user friendly fast cats produced in that their overall weight to sail area are perfect as compared for instance to a not so user friendly F18 on one hand due to thier excessive wieght and on the other the super light and very twitchy 'A' Class. In the real world both the F18 and 'A' are probably sailed faster than F16's but the skill margin to do this far exceeds most weekend warriors.

Mark,

How did the Mumbles YC get its name?

In the background of my avatar photo you will make out two islands. When the Vikings (Rolf and his cousins) made their raiding attacks on mainland Britain too rape our beautiful Celtic princesses and pillage our belongings they couldn't help notice these islands and especially their breast like appearance, so the name Mumbles is derived from Mammaries. Prior to this it would have had a non pronounceable Celtic name like Ynysmwlchareg, so in this instance I'm glad the Vikings were good sailors and admired the female form!!

I belong to the Lahaina YC. In Hawaiian Lahaina means cruel sun which is a pretty good commentary on the weather during the summer. Lahaina was a whaling port for years so our burgee has a whale on it.


I like your story better. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

OK, I'm going to be boring here... you don't get 50% less wetted area. Compared to the boat sitting completely flat, sailing on one hull gives you double the displacement in the hull that's still in the water. This means the wetted area on that hull is going to go up. I don't think it doubles but there is an increase.

So, although there is a gain from the reduced drag of flying a hull, I think the biggest factor is that having one hull just above the water means that you're holding down as much power as you can possibly can. It's like a tell-tale that says "this boat is fully powered up".

I dropped fluid mechanics because it all sounded too complicated, so I'll let someone else do the sums that prove that for the same displacement, one hull is much better than two.

Paul

I heard some time ago in the bar at Datchet that there was a very old English village that was flooded over when Datchet was filled up, the old boy said it had a name of Mesthinkinmarkpespullingeveryonesplonker but the name was so long that no one could remember how to spell it, so it was simply abbreviated to Datchet <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />