color code for running rigging???????
- Thread starter woodster
- Start date
- Status
There's some color coding on Verboten but the only thing that meets a "standard" might be the tweakers & spinnaker sheets which are red/green port & starboard. The halyards are all slightly different so I can tell my wife "loosen the one with the blue spots" or "loosen the one with the green spots" depending on whether I want her to drop the Jib or the Main.
Nice to have...
...but certainly not a need to have. It depends on how much you sail with others who don't know how to sail. I typically sail solo, so I it isn't critical to me. Often you can save a lot of money by buying line in bulk, but that also requires that you have the ability to splice things, like the halyard shackles, on.
If you don't then certainly color coding red and green looks nice and gives you a way to call out a line to a rookie easier. I'd suggest using white with colored flecks for the halyards and colored with white flecks for the sheets, but that is strictly based on the fact that colored will be less UV stable and it is easier to swap deck lines than change out halyards.
...but certainly not a need to have. It depends on how much you sail with others who don't know how to sail. I typically sail solo, so I it isn't critical to me. Often you can save a lot of money by buying line in bulk, but that also requires that you have the ability to splice things, like the halyard shackles, on.
If you don't then certainly color coding red and green looks nice and gives you a way to call out a line to a rookie easier. I'd suggest using white with colored flecks for the halyards and colored with white flecks for the sheets, but that is strictly based on the fact that colored will be less UV stable and it is easier to swap deck lines than change out halyards.
You can make your own color scheme. It's way easier to tell a novice which line you want adjusted if it's color is unique. I like solid color lines because they don't show dirt as much as white. I find a set of genoa sheets will last infinitely longer if you get solid colors, use two separate sheets rather than one long one doubled thru the clew, and remove them when you're not sailing and store inside.
Different colors for line helps keeping them un-tangled easier and helps when you to keep track of the lines on the foredeck. This is most important when you have four or more halyards for the jib and spinnaker. Or if you have multiple reef lines run.
I tend to sail with a lot of newbies (in fact, everyone who has been on board my O'Day 22 besides myself, I have taught how to sail) so I switched to colored lines, and it has made directing sooo much easier.
I use solid colors for halyards and white with color for sheets. I also like to use green and red colors for port and starboard sheets.
Most of the race boats I have crewed on use white with a blue tracer for genoa sheets and blue min stretch for genoa halyard. The mainsheet and halyard are plain white and reefs #1, #2 & #3 are blue, green and red. Anything spinnaker is red.
Originally this was to overcome mistakes by itinerant crew members who sailed on various boats, but eventually all new UK built boats came rigged that way.
And woe-betide any owner who changed the colour scheme!
Originally this was to overcome mistakes by itinerant crew members who sailed on various boats, but eventually all new UK built boats came rigged that way.
And woe-betide any owner who changed the colour scheme!
- Status