So I recently purchased a p19mx from a fellow over at Fort Walton yacht club(sail #1055, purple/yellow sail). If you know the boat or previously owned it feel free to give me the "scoop".

But anyways, i've had the boat about a month and a half and i decided to take a sail that was more offshore than my previous attempts. Well, right before we made our destination ~8-10 miles offshore, my boat violently demasted.






My question is... are these the right bowfoil tangs to use? The N6.0 NA tangs sold as replacements to use with the nacra foil look quite a bit different, and possibly shorter.

I'm familiar with that boat, seen it several times through the years. You demasted because the adjusters had many bend cycles and had fatigued the metal. You can use them (I have with sucess) but you have to replace them from time to time just like your standing rigging, and be careful not to bend them when setting up, trailering, etc. Typically you would have a short foil bridal wire here.

If that is a Nacra foil off of a 5.8 then you would have a sharp angle between the bow tang and the foil tang. The 5.8 is an 8 foot beam, the P19 is a 8'6" beam. Just to clarify, the tangs are the short metal piece that comes out of the bow, and the foil. The bridal wires or adjusters is what connects between the two. Hope that helps.

I found this pic from last year's Alter Cup on FWYC's website.. it kinda shows the angle(hard to see though).



the bowfoil is ~68" (~5' 8").

Hi Matt,

So you're up to no good .....

Now my P19MX has a Nacra 6.0 Bowfoil too ... I had "bridles/pigtails" made initially w/ marine forked terminals pressed on ... approximently 9"lg.

The first set lasted for several years ... the second set lasted 1-2 months .... I think they cost approximently $90.00/set at the time ....

So what to do ??? What to do ????

I noticed that many of the "big" racing boats use vectra/spectra for their standing rigging ..... idea???

I installed bell shackles on the bridle tangs and foil tangs .... and then used 3/16" spectra (4000lbs rated load) for bridles. Used (3) wraps around ... worked great .... very flexible ... and CHEAP!!! Replace every several years ....

You will need to check the mast rake at first since spectra/vectra has a tendency for the weave/braid to tighten up intially ==> resulting in the line lengthing slightly ... (this is not the same as "stretching" ...)

PS: From the pic ... you may wish to run a little more "pelican striker" tension ... my foil has 1" of prebend in it ...

PS2: To set the foil hieght you will need a straight edge long enough to go from "bow to bow" and carefully measure the hieghts of the foil .... (mine is 10" above the deck line at either end ... and 9" in the center ... but note that my MX Jib was actually made 5-6" shorter on the luff length as I didn't want to "close" the jib slot higher up ...and I also sometimes run a 25sqM spinacker and needed some clearence/hieght for the spinpole under the bowfoil)

PS3: I have crossed 1/8" spectra lines from bowtang to foiltang to keep the bowfoil centered

Harry Murphey
H18Mag/P19MX

That doesn't sound like a bad idea, Harry. How did you secure the spectra?(clamp, braid, knot?)

would Amsteel blue be considered spectra?

Samson's Amsteel "Blue" is actually Dyneema .... basically the same stuff. From my APS catalog 3/16" Amsteel Blue is rated at 5,400lbs tensile strength. The Yale Vectrus in 3/16" is rated at 4,500lbs tensile strength. These two lines are plenty strong enough for our purposes .... there are several other lines availible that are rated higher but the cost more then doubles.

I can splice 3-strand ... but haven't learned how to splice "braid" ... yet .... so I've just used bowline knots ... but I sew the "bitter ends" and then "whip" them when I get the lengths correct. After that I don't have to mess w/ them for 3-4yrs ....

Alot cheaper then having short bridles made up w/ marine forks !!!!! (I was pissed when the second set lasted 1-2 months before I had broken strands ....)

Harry Murphey
H18Mag/P19MX

There is a special curved marine fork that is swaged to wire ala Nacra 6.0 foil. Is that the marine fork you broke?

My bow foil was attached directly from the bow tang via 7 pin adjuster to the bowfoil.

Right I see what you had. Just wondering about Harry's.