Tomorrow is my first race in many years: any advice is appreciated!

Jack

Member
Hello,

After years of neglect, I dragged my boat out and went over it this week.
I am doing my first race in nearly 10 years tomorrow. My boat does not have the modern vang and outhaul setup. She is a stock 1980 boat. I remember a double purchase trick on the downhaul. Any and all other boat preparation and race tips are appreciated.

This is our first frostbite of the spring. The ability level in the fleet as well as the quality of boats runs the full spectrum.

Thanks,
-Jack
 
My boat does not have the modern vang and outhaul setup. She is a stock 1980 boat. I remember a double purchase trick on the downhaul.
Not much time to do any major fitting out I guess, but here are a few things that I would do/check if I were suddenly given a 1980 boat:

Class rule things - the mast has to be tied to the cunningham fairlead with a retaining line. It has to be loose enough to let the mast rotate but tight enough to keep the mast in the step.
In 1980 the vang was most often rigged with the cleat block on the boom. It's mandatory now to attach it to the mast. You can and should have a swivel there. Any extra purchase you might be able to rig would be good.

Sailing comfort things - if your tiller is an original wooden one, then it's a little too long and the extension is likely very short. If this is the case, I would try to borrow a newer set from someone.
If the traveller block hooks haven't been heavily taped over, do it.

"Purchase tricks" - no need for "tricks" anymore, you can add 30 mm or smaller blocks to all control systems (except the traveller), and use two separate pieces of line in the vang and outhaul, and three in the cunningham. If you have small single blocks and thin-ish reasonably non-stretchy line sitting around, you might want to rig something like a 4:1 cunningham and a 6:1 vang for now. The outhaul isn't as important.
 
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