Alot of the answer to these questions can be found by thinking a little about them and checking thigns when the sails are sheeted tight on the beach..
1) Front beam tension.
-> when you measure the middle of the beam it should be +/- 1 cm higher then flat, without the mast fitted?
Set you boat up on the beach and place it on a upwind course while putting some dead weight (like your significant other <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> ) on the boat to keep it down. Sheet the sails in tight and then then look along the mainbeam to see if it is flexing downward. If it is (even when only slightly) then you need more upwards bend (tension) on your mainbeam, so crank on the dolphinstriker pin further.
You don't want to mainbeam to flex downward when loaded up. But you also don't want to beam to still flex upward by a significant amount under full load either.
A good rule of thumb seems to be 15 mm upward bend on the mainbeam when the mast is not stepped. However your beam has new beam sections and so there is no practical experience on the amount that will be right for your specific beam. Therefor you will have to check it yourself with the above setup.
2) Wire tension.
-> no idea in kilogrammes... When I check on the F18, it's very hard, so hard the put the tension of after the race.
No-one in the F16 class does know. For some reason the F16 sailors aren't anal about this setting. Again use the above test setup to see if you need more or less. Pretty much you don't want the stays too tight as that will prevent your mast from turning fully in light winds. But you also don't want too little as then in big wind your mast will bang to one side to another too much when or the stays with hook on other parts of your boat as they are too slack. Something you can even get kinks in the stays when they are too slack. This is especially bed when it happens near the terminals as this can really weaken the stay.
As far as I know all of us F16 sailors find a good average setting and stick with that for all wind conditions. Our wing masts don't need to rotate forward so much so when can run the stays relatively tight without interfering with the mast rotation.
Rule of thumb, my own stay tension on the side is firm. I have to graps it with my hand and excert some force to move it about 10 to 15 mm from side to side. When I hang on the trap line in no wind I can just slacken the windward side stay.
3) Angle of the mast
-> Angle < 90° but how small ... ?
Under spinnaker just release the rotation limiter and it will find its own setting somewhere around 80 degrees. At least it does on my boat. Start from here till you know the boat more intimately, then you can start bringing it back a little even on the downwind legs under spinnaker, but keep watching the top of the mast. Afterall, you don't want to bend or break the mast. I now know my boat pretty well by now and know what she can take under what circumstances. On the downwind legs I often limit the rotation. 1-up I often keep the upwind settings but make sure the mainsheet is cleated relatively tight. 2-up I think I rotate to some 60 degrees when the winds are not to unpredictable (strong and or gusty). If I have to use the traveller often to keep the boat flat (=dumping the traveller) then I increase the rotation or let is rotate freely (around 80 degrees). This supports my mast top better when the traveller is dumped.
Upwind (and also beam reaching).
In never go beyond 45 degrees. On my boat that is having the rotation arm point to the front of the daggerboard well. This may be different on your boat. I also never go to smaller rotation angles then pointing at my leeward rudder (= 20 degrees). Most often I point somewhere between the rear of the daggerboard well and the end of my rearbeam on the leeward side. Of cours this all dependents on the conditions and courses sailed. You can learn what works on your boat by rotating the mast and looking at the top of your sails (when you are sailing). Initially it is hard to spot but you can see the top flatten out or getting fuller and see the leech move inward or outward. Pretty much you don't want the top to be too full in draft nor have the leech at the top "hook". Pretty much the leech of your squaretop should flex off to leeward by about 200 - 300 mm. This is called letting the top breath freely. You'll feel less powered up but you'll be faster never the less.
I can't be more specific in this area as the settings for the mast rotation interact with your downhaul settings and the way your sail is cut (luff round and draft distribution). Therefor you will always have to find the right settings for your specific boat by looking at what the sail does and adjust all these settings in such a way that you get waht you want (optimal shape). With respect to draft, 10 % depth at about 35 % from the luff is often considered a very good starting point.
10 % draft means 10% of the length from luff to leech. So when the sail narrows towards the top so too does the draft. At the very top you let go of this 10 % rule and have the sail flatten out in a smooth manner.
4) Diamond tension
-> F18 rule used by very good clubsailers: 180 kg + 20 kg/beaufort more.
I don't know any rules like that for the F16's I don't think anybody does. Again this setting is like the mast rotation setting. You will have to experiment your way to the right settings for your specific boat. You have Landenberger sails and one of the very first batch and this means that you are oen of the first sailors to work out the right settings for it. You can again use the test setup on the beach, as you can with all your questions.
Pretty much what I do it find the right mast rotation setting, mainsheet setting and downhaul setting to get the right shape in the top 1/3rd of my sail. 10 % draft which is decreasing towards the very top and some 200-300 mm twist of the squaretop itself. Then when this is set right, you can adjust the outhaul to get 10 % draft in the bottom 1/3 rd of the sail. This leaves the middle 1/3rd as unadjusted. The only controls you have here to get the right shape, again 10% draft, are to diamond wire tension and the spreader rake. Now this is a little bit of a black art. Personally I would keep the spreader rake as given to you by the agent and just adjust the prebend (diamond tension) till you have about 10 % draft in the middle 1/3rd of the sail. Hopefully the leech will look tight with that setting. If not then the mainsail cut may have an error in it. Anyway at some point you'll often find that you can't get the sail shape to be perfect. The trick then is to decide where you take the hit. This too is somewhat of a black art. But a leech that twists aways too soon (in the middle 1/3rd for example) will impact pointing ability. A leech that is too tight in the top will make the boat feel bound up and make it slow. Too much draft in the top will make the boat flighty and result in slow depowering when sheeting out. Too little draft in the top will make you feel underpowered even in 15-20 knots of wind and make you slow. Too much draft in the bottom 2/3rd of the sail will cause the jib to backwind the mainsail and have the rig perform suboptimally (=slower then you can be), this is often difficult to spot.
You are safe to do experimentation here as long as the windward diamond wire is never slack while sailing. This is a good rule of thumb. This doesn't mean however you'll break something the second the wire goes slack. Some Tornado/F18 crews actually have it slack intentionally in very big wind to depower their rigs, but I would only risk it when you are more experienced in tuning your rig and know what abuse your boat can handle and can't handle.
5) Spreaders
-> should be adapted towards the weight. I have the superwing mast on the blade and my crew is always 2-up (+/- 130kg) -> angle?
I have 25 mm prebend, but my mainsail has a luff curve error cut into it. So I'm trying to place the hit somewhere where it does the least bit of damage. My spreader rake on a 390 mm long spreaders is 50 mm (between rod layed on the wires and the back of the mast). Adjusting spreader rake can improve the gust response of your rig. Again this is a black art but I'm told that increasing the spreader rake can soften the onslaught of a gust and convert more of the gust into forward speed instead of lifting the hull.
It will take one or two seasons to learn how to tune your rig. But then again you decided to sail a true race boat now and so you will have to do this. Good luck !
I hope this helps.
Wouter
