What is the cost vs. benefit trade-off for running rigging options on a 25 ft sailing boat? We take a look at three running rigging specs, from budget to full performance racing, and investigate whether the increase in cost is justified by the performance benefits.
We asked an expert rigger to work up some generic running rigging specs for a 25 foot weekend cruiser, club racer and grand prix race campaign, based on the Gottifredi Maffioli ranges. His recommendations are summarised in the table below:
Recommended line - Style (diameter / mm) | |||
Rigging | Cruise | Club Race | GP Race |
Main Halyard | T90 (6) | Powersprint (6) | DSK78 Race POLY (6) |
Jib Halyard | T90 (6) | Powersprint (6) | DSK78 Race POLY (6) |
Spi Halyard | T90 (6) | Powersprint (6) | DSK78 Race DYCO (6) |
Mainsheet | T90 (8) | Airswift (8) | Swiftcord (8) |
Jib sheets | T90 (8) | Airswift (8) | Superswift (8) |
Spi sheets | T90 (8) | Airswift (8) | Superswift (8) |
For the purposes of our package comparison, each boat got the same fittings: Ronstan main halyard shackle, Ronstan snap shackles for Jib/Spi halyards and Dyneema® Loop shackles for the sheets.
Cruise
T90 is a double braid construction with a polyester core and 100% polyester cover. Gottifredi Maffioli uses a heat treatment process on its polyester to produce a very low stretch
Club Race
To improve halyard performance over the T90, Powersprint has a full Dyneema® SK78 core, but the same H.T. Polyester cover as the T90. The use of Airswift in the sheets provides a significant weight advantage as its core is made from hollow filament fibres called "Aircore". The Dyneema® + non-slip fibre braided cover provides excellent grip with good abrasion resistance. It is also easily tapered by removing the core for the last 1.5m and 4m of the jib and spi sheets respectively.
GP Race
In the Grandprix race version, the main and jib halyards have been upgraded to the DSK78 Race range with a generic H.T. Polyester cover. The SK78 core of the Gottifredi Maffioli Race range has been heat set to increase its strength and further reduce its stretch. The DYCO cover for the Spi halyard is a Dyneema® + Cordura® mix which is very lightweight with very good abrasion resistance and grip in cleats. The use of the single braid, Dyneema® + non-slip fibre, Swiftcord, for the mainsheet provides a very strong, lightweight line with good grip and very soft feel for constant, comfortable adjustment by the helmsman. Finally Superswift, for the jib and spi sheets, is a double braid with an SK78 core and Dyneema + non-slip fibre cover. This line is strong, lightweight with good abrasion resistance and easily tapered (as per Club spec).
Summary
To compare cost versus benefit for these x3 packages we decided to look at total rope weight (ex fittings which are identical across all packages) and average line strength. The results can be summarised in the following table.
(N.B. Prices shown are approx RRP package values for line and labour - excluding fittings).
Taking the Cruise spec as the baseline, the data reveals some interesting values:
More Information or need a quote?
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