I see from the Mozzie website that there were 2 Mozzies with broken diamond wires at the Lake Boga Easter regatta; 1 resulting in a broken new mast and naturally the other with a retirement.

What was the cause of the breakages ? Was it simply rivet failure on the new mast or is there something more sinister ? I'm keen to know before I continue with my new mast. Any info even 2nd hand would be appreciated.

Regards,


Peter Foulsum

From my brief examination of the damage, it appeared as though one of Peter's diamond wires snapped clean through about midway between the spreader and the anchor point. I don't know whether there was any pre-existing damage to the cable or what guage it was. This caused the mast to collapse at the spreader.

Rob heard a loud bang come from the mast area after which he couldn't set the sail properly on one tack. On inspection one of the cables of his diamond set up had slipped through the swage and broken a couple of strands of the cable. Rob has both diamonds on the one anchor point at the base of the mast and the strands had broken about 50 mm from the base on one side. Having seen what happened to Peter, he decided that it would be safer and cheaper to return to shore. Again I do not know whether there were any pre-existing problems with the cable or what gauge cable was used. Rob fixed the diamond wires and was back racing (and winning) next race.

What Rob Said about it:- "broken dimond wire was from rushing and not crimping the wire right, i should have used 3mm wire, it was only 2mm."