Ralph Hopkins and Mike McHugh have their Ariel, TARA, docked at the New Orleans municipal yacht harbor. They report that although the harbor was completely wrecked by hurricane Katrina, TARA escaped harm except for the loss of her bow pulpit and the running light on top of the mast.
Ralph reports that TARA's sailing rig has been extensively modified both for comfort (sun protection) and to make for easy handling. For sun protection, her main was cut down 4-1/2 square feet (from the top), raising the boom 14 inches up the mast. This added height above the deck allows the boom to clear the Bimini they installed for sun protection. The boom was also shortened five inches to help it clear the split backstay. The boom, however, is still too long to pass under the split backstay when the backstay is loose running down-wind. A limit vang, much like a martengale on a horse, prevents the boom from going too high and striking the tight backstay.
Both the 170% Genoa and the mainsail are roller furling and Ralph & Mike find that the reduced mainsail is actually faster being cut down. The headsail furling setup is a stock Pro-Furl furling system with the usual controls.
The furling main, however, is a different matter and took a bit of engineering to accomplish. They used a Pro-Furl furler as the basis of the system. The furler extrusion has a wire running through it and connected to a two-fold purchase block at the bottom that leads back to a winch. At the top, the furler wire is attached to the mast using the original bracket at the top. The mainsail is, of course, attached to the extrusion behind the mast and is loose footed along the boom. Since the extrusion is not attached to the mast, it can rotate around the wire. When the block at the bottom is hauled tight, the luff is straight and ideal for close up-wind work. When the block is slacked, the extrusion bows out away from the mast giving better shape to the sail for off-wind work. A car that slides in the groove of the boom has a reefing hook attached that can be hooked in the clew when the sail is reefed about 1/3 or 1/2
The main luff not being attached to the mast, all the load of both Genoa and main are at the top of the mast, the upper 3/16 stays were replaced with ¼-inch stays.
The boom, obviously, cannot be attached to the mast. Rather, using the original gooseneck, the boom is attached to a custom made, 3/4-inch diameter, heavy duty, stainless steel tubular bracket.
The bracket was made by:
Tops in Quality
314 E. Huron Blvd
Maryville, MI 48040
810-364-7150
Next to the hatch on the starboard side of the cabin top is the boom topping lift. The blue/white line is the downhaul for adjusting tension on the luff. The rope clutch holds an extra halyard and the spinnaker halyard.
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