[Rhodes22-list] highest comfortable wind speed

Tue Sep 4 03:43:45 EDT 2018

Well,
      Thank you Stan for the excellent description of the rig.  My "timely"
08-13 post really underlines the importance of how robust the rigging.
After the explanation I realize  it was the rig and not the various items
and bottles of liquor that I tossed over board during the crisis as an
offering to Neptune.  Thanks Stan!

Chris G

On Mon, Sep 3, 2018 at 11:19 PM Stan Spitzer <stan at rhodes22.com> wrote:

>
> I generally try to stay away from List/Boat discussions for a host of
> reasons; including the fact that I am an undergraduate seat of the pants
> sailor so most Rhodies are more technically positioned than I.  However,
> in honor of Alex and as a dose of home therapy, I'll offer a few unasked
> for comments re Rhodes sails and related hardware.  All with a little
> selling on the side:
>
> IMF masts (only available from GB) want to be straight and set
> perpendicular to the water line.  You will note a minute extruded groove
> in the mast's leading edge.  If you rest your head on the cabin top and
> sight up this 26' long groove, you can adjust your stays to transform
> this groove from a curved to a straight line.
>
> The Rhodes has 9 stays, a record for this category boat. This eliminates
> mast pumping. Adds a degree of reserve safety as in Chris's Med.
> misadventure.  In most boats our size, if a jib stay (forestay) gives up
> its job, there is nothing to stop the mast from falling back and
> bruising the boat.  Of course, if you are fortunate, the mast will make
> a soft landing on your guests. The Rhodes 9 stays also allow for the
> straight mast, needed for IMF.
>
> 6 side stays (shrouds) need only a one time adjusting of their
> turnbuckles, which should be done by *Hand*.  With the mast straight and
> perpendicular, all 6 shrouds are tightened (worth repeating) by *Hand*.
> When wind hits the sails and heels the mast, the 3 appropriate shrouds
> automatically tighten the precise amount needed to take the hull along
> for the ride.  Over tightening these 6 shrouds drives the mast down into
> the boat, distorting hull shape, possibly even trapping a guest in the
> enclosed head.
>
> Adjusting the jib stay and double back stays, is another story.  For jib
> sail efficiency you need the jib stay to be as straight as can be.  With
> the Rhodes mast head rig design, this is quickly and easily doable by
> drawing the two back stays together with its rapid tension adjuster 2:1
> mechanical advantage built-in set up where its pulling line then secures
> to one of the 2 idiot proof tiny cleats on each outer corner of the
> transom.  "Idiot proof" because only one cleat is used.  Should you
> attach the back stays in reverse at the mast top, no need to lower the
> mast; the opposite transom cleat is ready for use. You undoubtedly will
> come up with a creative use for the unused cleat.
>
> The Rhodes points amazingly well.  Here are the issues a
> boat-blaming-skipper needs to be tuned into:
>
> The Rhodes proper, lasts beyond a life time.  Its sails of cloth, do
> not.  Sail shapes, and thus efficiencies, change. Racing extremists get
> new sails each year.  Relaxed Rhodies can let the next owner make a new
> set decision. The point I want to make clear here is that saving a few
> dollars to have sails made by a local sailmaker or a Doyle franchise
> loft is fine, as long as you don't then turn to GB with furling or
> performance faults.  The shape of the Rhodes IMF main has been designed
> by GB and is manufactured to GB's specs. Rhodes IMF mainsail is
> specifically designed to work with the IMF's internal furling mechanism
> and it being hard connected to the Rhodes boom outhaul car; all only
> available from GB.  If you bought a used Rhodes or had new sails made
> for your Rhodes by a noted loft, you will not be getting the same ease
> of operation or sailing performance of the collective original
> manufacturer's IMF system... Just something to be aware of before making
> any dollar savings trade-off call.
>
> The jib sail should be connected to its furler so that its end pressures
> allow a smooth leading sail edge while not causing a crease in its
> fabric slightly aft of its luff. Rhodes furling jibs have some sort of
> an additional filler strategically positioned along the luff to help
> reduce excessive sail draft when being used partially reefed.  Using a
> 175 reefed to 130 vs a 130 fully deployed, the 130 is the better sail.
> The downside being it can't get bigger for lighter airs. The bottom line
> is probably for non racers to go with the sail size that would get the
> most use based on the more prevalent wind velocities they sail in.
>
> Your Rhodes should have 3 separate jib sheet leads hardware systems as
> part of your boat and readily available for either tack. This unique 3
> leads availability is what contributes to greater pointing ability by
> allowing the jib sail to be trimmed progressively closer to the boats
> centerline. When employing a genoa size that has to pass outside
> (beyond) the end of the mast spreaders, the sheets can only be routed
> outside of all 3 shrouds and used with the gunnel genoa cars on the
> genoa tracks. While delivering maximum driving force, pointing is
> limited by the limited degree the jib can then be trimmed towards the
> boat's center line.  With the jib reefed so its leech falls just short
> of reaching a spreader, the in play sheet routs inside of the mast-top
> shroud to a cabin-side fair lead and cam cleat, for markedly closer
> pointing.  But wait.  If you act right now the Rhodes offers a third
> lead positioning for amazing pointing ability.  The sheet routs inside
> the upper shroud *and* inside the aft lower shroud to the large fair
> lead and cam cleat on the aft cabin trunk top.  In all of these
> different lead positions you should take note of a diagonal stripe on
> the sail itself, that runs to the sail's clew.  This is your guide for
> having the angle of the jib sheet being set as close as possible to
> being a continuation of this sail marker's angle.
>
> In response to the coming about jib thinking, mine is, the wind is my
> friend. I do not release the jib sheet until the boat has come about far
> enough for the wind to have stated backwinding the genoa so that wind
> force is now great enough to propel all that material past the mast. To
> aid my friend I slacken the released jib sheet so at no point will the
> sheet itself be working against our common goal of aiding in the big
> guy's struggle to make it to the other side. Of course if an
> enthusiastic helping deck hand prematurely starts pulling on the
> opposite sheet, there is the lazaret brig. This is a job for the wind.
> If the wind is not up to it, then the calmer situation allows for simply
> partially furling the jib and unfurling it back to its full splendor
> once on the new heading, where you will appreciate its huge size in the
> calmer breeze.
>
> A General Boats IMF mainsail's clew is designed to remain close to, and
> continually parallel to, the boom. This is critical in making the clew
> hard-attached to the outhaul car so that space between sail and car does
> not vary (as it does in other systems).  This unique GB design insures
> that no matter the draft size you set in the main sail, the sail remains
> in the same plane as the boom.   This improves pointing even more since
> it gives more meaning to the basic value of a traveler, which is to
> provide as straight as possible downward force on the sail's leech to
> remove as much twist in the leech as possible.  The GB new traveler
> system works with the latest GB outhaul car design to advance the IMF's
> revolutionary closing in on sailing perfection.  The IMF internal
> furling mechanics are so simple and bullet proof, it requires no
> maintenance and will last a life time.  If the sail or its mounting on
> the IMF furler is not an issue, an errant IMF system invariably turns
> out to be the result of external expert intervention, luckily reversible
> by internal experts.  We had a call for a mast replacement from a yard
> that had inadvertently bent a customer's mast. I explained to them that
> if they bent the mast to that degree, they needed to replace its
> interior.  They insisted the furling parts were OK.  No need to tell the
> rest of the story.  You can't have one without the other.
>
> One of our slogans has been, and remains, if something on a Rhodes does
> not work easily, best to look first at all crew hands (or feet).
> Furling the main isn't working?  Release the quick outhaul release that
> is so easy to release it is forgettable. I know. Taking out the main is
> this time beyond your strength?  Take your foot off the black outhaul
> line you left on the cockpit floor.  I know. I know.
>
> Of course everyone knows how delightful it is sailing with the pop top
> up.  But sailing with it down does increase /all aspects of sailing
> performance/ by allowing the lower level of the boom to position the
> sail's center of effort closer to the water line.
>
> I know you all know all of this stuff, but if there is one sailor out
> there who finds one thing new to her or him, all this verbiage was
> probably worth it.
>
> stan
>
>
>
>
>
>
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