Cunningham set up.

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Dimond

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Hi All,
Can Anyone give me a diagram of the set up for a cunningham. The one on my Mirage 26 was incorporated into the boom bracket which broke recently and I had to replace it with a regular bracket, so now I need to set up a cunningham from scratch.

Thanks
Dimond.
 
Strictly speaking, the cunningham is the hole in the sail so not much need for a diagram.

Any line that can be run through it, with one end fixed, and the other capable of being tightened, is good enough. On my boat, I have a line with a spliced eye which I feed through the cunningham and put over the reefing horn. The other end of the line goes onto the genoa halyard winch (the genny halyard runs through a rope clutch) so that it can be heaved in, pulling down the cunningham and tightening the luff. Hey ho, and Bob's me uncle.
 
I just put a carbine clip through the cunnigham eye with a small block on it and have a small jamming block on the mast foot. The stripey line creates a 2 part purchase and jams off in the lower block. I lead it each side of the gooseneck. It's a kicking strap in effect.
On my little 18ft boat it gives me plenty of scope for tensioning.

(Gosh. Look how slack that headsail luff is!)

Cunningham.jpg
 
Yes but I would rather see a cunningham tackle that also pulls forward to counteract your outhaul tension. So in my case it goes from a point below the gooseneck and forward on the mast through the eyelt and back to a similar point on the other side through saddle or pulley down to another pulley on the deck then back to a winch. (just like the reef lines at the luff)

the brilliant photo by Lakesailor (nice one Phil) shows that the luff of the sail can be pulled away from the mast by outhaul tension in an area where the luff is not supported by track. It does look like Phil's tack on his mainsail has been cut away to allow for gooseneck eyelet not being in line with the luff, but of course the cunningham eyelet area can't be cut away.
Any way try a straight down pull if the sail ok then all well and good but you can't have wrinkles in the sail cos the luff is pulled out. (backwards) Well you can but.........it would be like a loose luff on a jib. olewill

Phil I promise I will try to get a web site and put some photos on.
 
Basically do ours the same as TwisterKen; horn - thro' eye - back to winch - 38' fractional rig and can get all the tension we need with the winch - we use it alot especially as the halyard slips a bit & when we want to flatten the sail.
Cant take it forwards as will says but dont seem to have problems with wrinkles ( on the sail that is...).
 
Yup. The sail was cut by Steve Goacher from photographs and measurements I gave him. It does have a cut-away to allow for the roller reefing gearbox and goosenck.
I have the boom below the band because I was greedy and had the longest luff I could made, so the mast gate to boom is a bit of a stretch. The tack is tied to a small eye on the boom so limits the distortion the outhaul gives.

This pic is not as good (blown up from a pic on a lousy day) but shows the shape the sail was cut to. This was the first time I put it up, which explains the horizontal crease.

tack.jpg
 
Who was Cunningham?

I imagine that the idea of tensioning the luff of the mainsail by pulling down on a eyelet near the foot is named after the person who first thought of it. Who was he or she? I seem to recollect something about sailing in San Fransisco Bay, but it doesn't tell you in The Oxford Companion To Ships And The Sea. (The title of the next alphabetical item there made me smile, but I can't tell you what it is because of the sweary-word catcher.)

Alan
 
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