Dart 15 Forums

Whilst rigging his boat recently at our club, Halifax SC, one of our members noticed that the reason the mainsail was not going up smoothly was that the mast was horizontal, the short strop at the top of the forestay having snapped. Further inspection revealed the top jib furler swivel was almost seized and that it was almost certainly the resulting twisting effect applied to the top strop that had caused it to fail.

Now I realise that most of you are probably yawning at this point but I had not thought about this and so maybe someone else has not.

So check those top swivels - not a long shin up a Sprint 15 mast!!

Yes, has happened to me in the past. The furler needs to be lubricated, never furl with the mainsheet under tension and tie an emergency piece of string through the strop to stop the mast coming down if the strop breaks.

Yes, has happened to me in the past. The furler needs to be lubricated, never furl with the mainsheet under tension and tie an emergency piece of string through the strop to stop the mast coming down if the strop breaks.

For more info. on this subject, see the 'Tips' section of this site complete with text and pics.
Cheers,