Dart 15 Forums

Hello Hive Mind
As the soon to be owner of a very nice looking dart 15 (I’ve had one before many years ago), and as someone who won’t be racing can I ask for a bit of advice On the following:
Does anyone use a mast float and if so which one works at preventing inversion?

Has anyone made up a set of shorter shrouds with multiple blocks and cleats a la catapult to cant the mast and therefore assist in righting? This may sound heresy but it was a good system on the catapult I used to have, but not sure how it may transfer to the dart. Eg the mast step may be unsuitable etc

Thanks in advance

Rob

I don't think the canting mast idea will work on the D15 as the mast just sits on a ball on the front beam and will become detached when the rig tension is lowered significantly.
I've not used a mast float on my 15 but have occasionally used it on our club's Dart 16, whilst it stops the inversion it does create another problem in that if you become detached from the cat you'll have a hard time getting back to it as it blows downwind.
Unless you're particularly light the 15 isn't too difficult to right from inverted if you know the correct technique.

There's a good proportion of the fleet at Shanklin have floats built into the sails. They will generally stop an inversion if you have a mast that is watertight.

https://www.shanklinsailingclub.com/con ... floats.php

They are Dart 15 class legal.

Thanks both.
The shroud tackles are continuous so as one shortens the other lengthens, but take your point
Rob