Date: 1/28/2001
Name: Art Caples Jr., SJ21 #2069
email: acaplesjr@netscape.net
subject:RE: Forestay Diameter
SamIt's not legal for SJ21 class racing but should be OK for PHRF type racing. If your just going to be cruising you can put on anything you want. My boat had 4 or 5 strands frayed when I bought the it about four years ago. After sailing it for one season I decided I had better replace the forestay before the thing completey came apart on me. I brought my original forestay to West Marine and got an exact replacement because I started racing in class events.
At the 1999 North Americans at Lake Cheney in Kansas we had some very heavy winds and on one of the races beating to windward (the boat took a beating alright) my forestay starting getting slack on each wave we slammed into and I was hoping to make the windward mark but no just before getting to the layline the forestay popped off the turnbuckle and nothing happened. My brand new Kerr Jib took the full load but I knew that wouldn't last for long so I slowley turned the boat to downwind and sailed back the way we had just came so that all the tension was now on the backstay. My crew person then went up front with a couple of wrenches and by the time he got the foretay back on we had sailed past the starting line and was half way to the damn. Dang, got another one of those DNF's. Wierd part is I usually put a couple of ring pins in the turnbuckle for just this sort of thing but this time I was in such of a hurry to race I forgot. I think this was the same race 3 or 4 other San Juans lost their rudder/gudgeons/pintles or parts thereof and also had to retire from the race. It gets pretty windy here in the central states.
Art Caples Jr.
OKC OK
SJ21 #2069
[Return to Harbor Messages | Create New/Followup Message]