Develop the IOM you Have

Develop the IOM you Have

I could not decide if I should add this to the post by James Dunn – Buying a Yacht 24.04.16.

I decided upon a fresh post hopeful that others might add their thoughts to it.

All so often one sees people spending a vast amount of money replacing their boat rather that spending a couple of quid and a few hours on their existing boat because they believe their boat to be non-competitive not quite understanding that the hull does not propel the boat through the water but rig and the skipper.

There are at least 10 other simple modifications that one can make to older boats costing little more than 25 quid and that will take no more than a couple of hours to implement that will gain places. The chances are that the second-hand Lintel, Garget ,etc you will buy will need these improvements in any case.

Brad Gibson published a very good article in the Acquaint Magazine - Pimp my RM but I cannot remember a similar article intended for the IOM.

Rig Design

If anything Rig Design, the mast and sails, have taken great strides forward in the past ten years. These improvements are quite subtle but contribute to what one might describe as Wider Operational Dynamic Range and an overall increase in boat speed in variable conditions during a race.

Hound Position

Take look at the hound position, the point where the shroud attaches to the mast:-

20 year ago most hound points were at 220mm from the top band and on the side of the mast. i.e. at the same point as the jib attachment point. Whilst perfectly fine in constant wind conditions, this position is far from optimal in gusty conditions because the mast bends inward when the main sail load increases closing leech of the main sail.

In place of the boat accelerating in a gust it simply lays over and slows down and in extreme cases violently flicks up to weather.

By lowering this position below this point, say 160 to 200 below this jib attachment point allows the top of the mast to bend off to leeward opening the leech of the main. The boat now accelerates and doses not flick up to wind as it did before.

Back Stay and Crane

A very accomplished skipper at one of the clubs I sail at made the comment recently that most club sailors did not adjust the back stay correctly and did not understand the importance of it on a Fractional Rig.

Make sure the back stay crane is just about long enough to allow the sail to swing past it and the attachment point is at far out on the deck as you can possibly get it.

This reduces the bending moment of the mast, the tendency for the mast to bend forward

Provides greater forestay tension

Make the adjustment 3 or 4 to one rather than the 2 to one conventionally used.

This makes the adjustment finer allowing easier adjustment of the main sail maximum camber point

Develop the boat you have, don’t just leave it in the shed all week and wonder why you are left for dead in every race.

Those were my top 2 modifications .. what are yours.

00CEF