One String Rig?

[Marcus]

I recently had a sail in one of the Winder built Merlins with a one string system for adjusting the rake of the rig and was very impressed by its ease of adjustment. My question is would such a system be suitable for a Twelve? I can see that such a system would make rake adjustment going upwind more staightforward and it would be easy to get the rig upright for going downwind on a run. However, as I understand things the conventional practice of letting the shrouds off going downwind in a Twelve achieves more than just getting the rig more upright, it also allows the mast to straighten thereby producing a fuller sail and enables the boom to be squared off more because of the loose leeward shroud. With a one string system the rig tension would presumably be maintained as the rig is pulled upright so the latter two benefits would not necessarily be achieved. So, what's most important, getting the rig upright, straight or slack? The reason I'm asking is that I sail at a venue where we beat and run a lot but because I usually have one of the kids crewing I often leave the rig alone going down the run since there's enough to do without having to let off each shroud independently as well. Nevertheless a simple one string system for getting the rig upright might be manageable but would I get any real benefit?      

[bendy (Guest)]

I think they’ve only really managed to make it work with a deck stepped rig, not hog stepped like we use.  They also tend to depower by raking/twisting and we do more with bend.  Graham tried deck stepped a few years back and it didn’t work that well.  Mr Driver used it a few years before and went quite well, he sailed the boat like a Merlin not a 12.
 
I think you’d need to go deck stepped and use more rake than bend a la Merlin.  It might work, only one way to find out for sure.
 
Talk to Tom, he’s pretty hand in both classes at the moment and probably the only person who can comment with any authority.
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Either way you’ll certainly need to still get the leeward shroud off or you’ll be going nowhere.  I think that by making your shrouds work well enough that you can get them off on the run while sailing with the kids will be much faster for you at the moment.

[ifoxwell]

During our limited time with a Merlin I found the one string system brilliant... but not downwind, up. We used to use the rig more than the kicker for controlling the power and balance in the boat, only when fully raked did we then properly play around with everything else.

As stated above though I would think it would only work effectively with a deck stepped rig, and that you would be better off installing easier to operate shroud adjustment.

Ian
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