18 Rig Checks That Will Refine Your Boat
Yachting Monthly|Summer 2020
Does your boat’s weather helm bother you, or does she go better on one tack than the other? Toby Heppell explains how to iron out the foibles with proper rig setup
Toby Heppell
18 Rig Checks That Will Refine Your Boat

Have you ever wondered why your boat seems to point better and sail faster on one tack that the other? Or found that the helm remains light in some conditions, but develops a mind of its own in others? The answers to these and many other niggles with your boat’s handling, may lie in how you’ve got the rig set up.

Setting up your boat’s rigging can seem a complex task. Each piece of rigging has a distinctly different effect on a boat’s balance, feel, and response, and each setting change can have a knock on effect, meaning a single adjustment often leads to something else being set up incorrectly. Due to this, many of us tend to just set and forget our rigging settings. When was the last time you thought about shroud tension for example? I’m willing to bet not recently, unless you’ve noticed your shrouds going slack when they usually would not. But setting up your rig properly can make all the difference to how a boat sails, whether she is manageable in heavy weather, or can keep making headway in light airs. Get it right, and sailing is much more fun.

I spent my younger years competing at international sailing events in dinghies before moving on to racing keelboats. In both of these sports, keeping track of rig settings in minute detail was a major part of the sport. When I moved into the world of cruising for fun, I was amazed to discover so many people barely touched their rig setup from year to year, let alone morning to afternoon. Having raced on a great number of keelboats and tested many new yachts for magazines over the years, my obsession with understanding the numbers has not gone away and continues to be one of the first places I look when a boat is not sailing as well as I might hope.

Bu hikaye Yachting Monthly dergisinin Summer 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Yachting Monthly dergisinin Summer 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

YACHTING MONTHLY DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
Midsummer on Hanö
Yachting Monthly UK

Midsummer on Hanö

This wonderful little island in the south-east of Sweden is a real gem off the beaten track

time-read
3 dak  |
January 2025
ADVENTURE SAILING TO HAITI
Yachting Monthly UK

ADVENTURE SAILING TO HAITI

After spending two months in the Dominican Republic, Andy Brown sails west to Haïti bringing medical and school supplies to the town of Mole Saint Nicholas

time-read
8 dak  |
January 2025
In celebration of bad sailing
Yachting Monthly UK

In celebration of bad sailing

New owner Monty Halls tests his sailing skills with his family aboard their Colvic 34 ketch, Sobek. A recently qualified Day Skipper, Monty faces a few unexpected challenges...

time-read
3 dak  |
January 2025
Winter brings excitement and opportunity
Yachting Monthly UK

Winter brings excitement and opportunity

Oddity’s double glazing, insulation and heating create a warm, homely environment as I bash out this column.

time-read
3 dak  |
January 2025
ADVENTURE MAISIE GOES TO GOES
Yachting Monthly UK

ADVENTURE MAISIE GOES TO GOES

To depart or not to depart? That is the question. Is it safer to stay, or suffer the wind and weather of a rough North Sea?

time-read
7 dak  |
January 2025
'MAYDAY, GRANDAD OVERBOARD!'
Yachting Monthly UK

'MAYDAY, GRANDAD OVERBOARD!'

When David Richards and his grandson Henry went out racing from lowey, they didn't expect their sail to end with a lifeboat rescue

time-read
4 dak  |
January 2025
VERTUE
Yachting Monthly UK

VERTUE

For a 25-footer, the Vertue has a huge reputation and has conquered every ocean. So what makes this little boat quite such an enduring success? Nic Compton finds out

time-read
10+ dak  |
January 2025
Sailing siblings
Yachting Monthly UK

Sailing siblings

Mabel Stock, her brother Ralph, a friend Steve and an unnamed paying passenger passed through the Panama Canal in December 1919 on the sturdy Norwegian cutter Ogre. They were towed to a quiet anchorage in Balboa away from the boat traffic but within rowing distance of the shore.

time-read
5 dak  |
January 2025
TECHNICAL MAINSAIL MODIFICATIONS
Yachting Monthly UK

TECHNICAL MAINSAIL MODIFICATIONS

Safety and performance improved hugely when Mike Reynolds reduced the size of his mainsail and re-configured the systems controlling it

time-read
8 dak  |
January 2025
PILOTAGE DONE PROPERLY
Yachting Monthly UK

PILOTAGE DONE PROPERLY

Chartplotters are an amazing aid, but can detract from your real-world pilotage if not used with caution, says Justin Morton

time-read
10+ dak  |
January 2025