Date: 12/28/2005
Name: Steve
email: steve.blumer@Gmail.com
subject:Shroud tension
Roy asked for shroud tension guidance. The range used is huge. Racers are thinking about speed. Many vary tension for wind conditions, others don't bother and find little or no speed change anyhow. Some like outers tighter than inners, others prefer the opposite. Or they'll tension the inners relative to the outers in heavy air. There's always a theory to support one school of thought or the other. The cut of your sails is also relevant, which is why one sailmaker has a different tuning guide than another. Confusing, eh?For non racing, some people say looser stay tension puts less stress on the boat. I disagree, advising tighter tension on both stays, so that when tacking there is no sudden surge in tension as the wind goes from zero force as you're head-to-wind to maximum force as you bear off and the wind catches you full foce before the boat has sped up. In other words, the greatest force your boat undergoes is through tacks in heavy wind, and that's when you need to minimize force. Loose stays will tug hard and terribly stress your rig, chainplates, connections and hull, stays tight enough to remain tensioned through the tack will not.
If you're racing, the general opinion would be, I'd guess, 275 - 300 on the outers, 150 - 300 on the inners. I'd suggest for cruising 300 on the outers, and 250 on the inners.
Now let's see all the variable opinions...
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