Knowing the ropes

Rigpro – the service division of Southern Spars – is the world leader in mast and rigging servicing. Its staff, located in Westhaven Marina, are here to help with all things mast-, rigging- and rope-related.

As technology and ideas spill over from the Grand Prix and Superyacht world, the way that owners of smaller yachts rig their vessels is evolving rapidly. Systems developed to make bigger, faster yachts simpler and more reliable work just as well on smaller yachts – whether cruising or racing – and they’re easier on the wallet.

It’s no surprise many of the improvements have come from advancements in rope technology, but many of the hardware developments derive from a backward step in complexity.

Rope technology has evolved dramatically since the days of hemp and sisal fibres. Modern materials are made in a laboratory with horrifically complicated chemical names. These new fibres have opened the door to a new level of performance with strength and stretch characteristics that are often many times greater than metal rod for a given weight.

Despite this, ropes are often ignored by yachties upgrading their boats, says Scott Simpson, senior rigger at Rigpro.

“When someone upgrades to a new carbon sail, they often complain that they can’t get the shape quite right. And it’s usually because they haven’t up-spec’d their ropes to match. The sail is a lot stiffer than the old one and so has higher loads – particularly at the head.

“Their old polyester halyard won’t give them the luff tension they need in their jib to go upwind properly. Up spec’ing the control lines for a new sail will help get the last few percent of performance gains from it.”

When it comes to hardware, many systems have done a technological 360o turn – harking back to the days of cutter ships. In many instances, more traditional set-ups are back in vogue again.

“On bigger boats, for example, blocks and pulleys are being ditched in favour of solid rings,” says Scott. “They make items like vangs, deflectors and tweakers much simpler and stronger. They’re also much cheaper as well, so if they disappear overboard it’s not the end of the world.”

There’s also been a rapid increase in the number of ‘dog bones’ and ‘soft shackles’ used as connection points between sheets and sails. “These don’t have moving parts,” says Scott, “so they can’t shake loose and come undone. They’re also safer for people and they don’t damage the boat when flailing. And again – they’re cheaper. You hardly ever see a clip on the end of a sheet these days.”

Rigpro offers a full range of running rigging services and optimisation ideas – to make your boat faster, easier and safer to sail.