Ok, so now I have an aluminum mast on my N17 and even though I don't do one-design racing I still do club racing at the local yacht club. Portsmouth lists 2 DPN's for the N17, one with spi ("R") and one without spi. Is the one without using an aluminum mast? Is there any rating for an aluminum mast with spi? I went to both US and European Nacra sites and found the following specs:

Mast lenght US 30'4" (carbon) European 8.60m (~28'2" aluminum?)

Mainsail area US 163sf(with mast) European 15.5sm (~166.8sf)

Spinnaker area US 15.5sm or 18sm European 19sm

Am I missing something or are the mainsail and spinnaker areas larger on a boat with a shorter mast? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I assume my new mainsail is smaller with the shorter aluminum mast but maybe I need to get out the tape measure? I know my spinnaker is the same as for the carbon mast.

Do you guys in Europe race with aluminum masts and do you use spinnakers? What kind of rating system do you use or is it all straight up one-design?

I'm just looking to still club race and come up with some sort of handicap with aluminum mast and spinnaker. Maybe I'll just "punt" to the race committee and let them figure it out. Still like going around the buoys even though it's a hodge-podge of boats, it's all about great comraderie and lot's of fun.

Also, any of you Nacra guys tell me about how much tension you put on the pole stay wire in relation to tension on the forestays?

Thanks

nathan

I would start by measuring the mast. If it is the tall mast, same as the carbon, you'd probably use that number. If it is the shorter aluminum rig and smaller sail area, then you'd have to use the number for the aluminum rig and lower the DPN with the spinnaker-on-a-non-spin-boat correction factor.

Here is kind of a backwards answer for the pole tension, and I'm assuming a mid-pole setup.

We run the carbon rigs tight. I weigh 195 and can barely get the shroud pinned with my weight hanging on a trap line.

After the rig is tight, we put maybe an inch to inch and a half of prebend in the pole. You want just enough so the pole doesn't invert when loaded up sailing. So the wires end up being what they are.

If it's an EU spec boat then it will be a 13.84 sqm mainsail and either 17 or 19 sqm kite