Rigging

[Allan]

I recently asked on here if anyone knew of a rigger in the Cardiff area. I had been a little concerned that my rigging was not setup correctly. I had thought of setting it myself but when I found that the masttop bent forward when I slackened off the backstay, I decided to call in an expert. I then contacted Andy Freemantle. Not only did he set my rigging but he was happy to explain what he was doing and why. He has also marked my backstay adjustment in the tight and loose positions. Since he has done the job I have done a couple of trips. These include a beam reach in 15kts, beating into 12-15kts and downwind in 15-20kts. At all these points I feel there are improvements. On Sunday night I sailed from off Portishead to E&W in a wind that I don't believe I could have sailed in previously. It may be only a slight difference but it definately seems to go higher into the wind now. One thing I would say is that Andy comes from a racing background so I now have pre-bend in my mast and more bend for heavy weather sailing. Although I'm happy with this, I know some cruising sailors don't like to bend their mast. I'm sure Andy would take any opinion into consideration before working on rig.
Allan
PS Andy quoted £80 for a full survey and written report for my rig and £30 for a set-up.

 

[carise]

As I said in the conclusion to to other thread on rigging, I'm also very well impressed ith the service Andy provided. Carise is about as far from a performance yacht as you're likely to get, but the better handling as a result of a professional set up is remarkable - money well spent!

If anyone wants to have a look at the job he did, feel free to have a nose around onboard or to come for a sail one day.

Paul