WIN
The letter of the month wins a bottle of Mermaid Spiced Rum, a smooth blend of Caribbean rums infused at the Isle of Wight Distillery with white cherries, rock samphire, apricots, honey and black salt. www.isleofwightdistillery.com
Expert tips for heavy weather sailing
May I share some thoughts with you. As a long-time participant of the former Helgoland to Edinburgh yacht race I did a lot of experimentation concerning heavy weather preparation on Tramontane, a Nicholson 31. For rigging the trysail we fitted an extra trysail track to the mast. I agree with your advice that otherwise the system is not working properly.
Concerning the inner forestay, the attachment point to the mast on is well below the top. So additional backstays (made of dyneema) are essential. As it is very difficult to lash the wire sufficiently beside the mast if it is not needed and secure it on deck level (often it was banging during sailing) I went for a stay of dyneema and also changed the hanks on the storm jib, as you can see. For easier handling the tension of the stay is created via a ‘handy billy’ and led aft (via strong
