OK so moving on to the next rigging question. Need to change the shape of the main going upwind. My main has a grommet for a cunningham, but its not rigged. How are most people rigging their Cunningham? A stainless hook and block, stopper knot and cleat on mast? My sunfish has a very simple setup with a clam cleat on boom. Any pics?
Cunningham rigging
- Thread starter Slipaway Capri 22
- Start date
I believe the stock (from factory) cunningham is a line attached to a pad eye on port side of mast, running up thru the appropriate grommet then down to a wheel mounted on the starboard side/front of the boom, then running a few feet down the boom toward the helm, ending in a jam cleat mounted on starboard side. Works for me.
wooster
wooster
That is the way mine (#281) was rigged. (I am the second owner). I duplicated the setup on the other side for the first reef rather than use the horn. It is easier to reef shorthanded. Mine also came with a flattener. The new sail from Ullman came with this without specifically asking for it.wooster said:
I noticed today that my Cunningham actually starts at a pad eye mounted on the boom. The pad eye on the mast anchors the luff's reef. Between the Cunningham and outhaul, my main's shape can go from curvy to flat easily. I too have a "flattening" grommet ( five or so inches above the clew along the leech); that's tensioned by another line coming out the boom secured to a clam cleat; sort of a last resort before reefing the main.
Past couple of days have been epic sailing; plenty of wind and relatively long distances. Sure going to miss this when the weather turns.
Wooster
Past couple of days have been epic sailing; plenty of wind and relatively long distances. Sure going to miss this when the weather turns.
Wooster
Sadly, this season has not been good for me to get out on the water. We've been putting on an addition on the house so my previous "sailing time" has been changed to "home time". Fortunately, we both like the results and know it will be essentially completed this fall. NEXT season will be spent on the water!
If it's any consolation, this is what sailing in California looks like this year. Heck, the grass in the marina is greener than my lawn!!!
CapriWannaBe said:
Well, if you have a trailer, THIS is what sailing in California looks like this year...
Hook it up and head for the big pond!!!
I'm going to say something unpopular... but the cunningham is pretty much useless until about 15 knots of wind for most modern sails. It does solve a purpose of course, but its usually on well stretched dacron mainsails... to help set the draft of the main, as winds come up, and rarely the same on laminate sails.
if you follow procedure... ease sheet, release vang, head to wind, then hoist... you can properly set tension/draft on the halyard... I like to tension the halyard once, then sheet everything in to where shape looks correct, and look at halyard tension... if it's good I leave it, sometimes it "settles" some, and you point up again, and reseat the tension (the boltrope will have some "flex" to it since its just been tensioned). Because of this, it's rare to need the cunningham...
The exception of course is when winds pick up measurably, and lets say you are racing, draft is slipping aft, you apply cunny until you pull that draft forward (draft is supposedly best with depth max at the first 40%). As you crank on sheet tension, vang, backstay, and outhaul (all things you are adjusting because winds are coming up), the draft has a tendency to slip aft (the effect is most quickly felt on dacron sails, and draft might also start that way on blown out older sails - like what I have now on my S2).
I had my prior sailmaker tell me that they have found on new(er) sails, the cunny is the most "overused" sail control. Cause the tension should more properly be set by halyard, and on a newer sail the boltrope is less "stretchy." Also the sails themselves are likely laminate (remember we're racing?), and therefore don't as easily let the draft slip while cranking on halyard, outhaul, backstay, vang and sheet.
Since I spent 2 seasons with nice crisp racing sails and now I am back to stretched out bagged older dacron, I've become way more aware of sail shape and control. I think it's helped make me a better sailor... that being said our venue lends itself to very light air, most days, we're under 12 knots of wind (all summer), and the cunny just dangles next to the mast most of the season. As soon as I'm overpowered though, I run FULL sails and start stretching that old dacron like a drumhead until I get it in the shape I can more properly use. If I get a few moments I'll add pictures to show what I am trying to say.
if you follow procedure... ease sheet, release vang, head to wind, then hoist... you can properly set tension/draft on the halyard... I like to tension the halyard once, then sheet everything in to where shape looks correct, and look at halyard tension... if it's good I leave it, sometimes it "settles" some, and you point up again, and reseat the tension (the boltrope will have some "flex" to it since its just been tensioned). Because of this, it's rare to need the cunningham...
The exception of course is when winds pick up measurably, and lets say you are racing, draft is slipping aft, you apply cunny until you pull that draft forward (draft is supposedly best with depth max at the first 40%). As you crank on sheet tension, vang, backstay, and outhaul (all things you are adjusting because winds are coming up), the draft has a tendency to slip aft (the effect is most quickly felt on dacron sails, and draft might also start that way on blown out older sails - like what I have now on my S2).
I had my prior sailmaker tell me that they have found on new(er) sails, the cunny is the most "overused" sail control. Cause the tension should more properly be set by halyard, and on a newer sail the boltrope is less "stretchy." Also the sails themselves are likely laminate (remember we're racing?), and therefore don't as easily let the draft slip while cranking on halyard, outhaul, backstay, vang and sheet.
Since I spent 2 seasons with nice crisp racing sails and now I am back to stretched out bagged older dacron, I've become way more aware of sail shape and control. I think it's helped make me a better sailor... that being said our venue lends itself to very light air, most days, we're under 12 knots of wind (all summer), and the cunny just dangles next to the mast most of the season. As soon as I'm overpowered though, I run FULL sails and start stretching that old dacron like a drumhead until I get it in the shape I can more properly use. If I get a few moments I'll add pictures to show what I am trying to say.
I think they should have made the bolt-rope opening a lot shorter (lower)
The "keeper" interferes with getting a reef pulled down tight at the tack.
I have inadvertently popped it out when reefing, allowing the bottom slide to escape.
The "keeper" interferes with getting a reef pulled down tight at the tack.
I have inadvertently popped it out when reefing, allowing the bottom slide to escape.
this is why many people installed mast gates. Other option is to ditch the sail slugs (boy that opens a whole NEW can of worms)... I've been 100% bolt rope only on the last 2 boats... dealing with the main raising and lowering is always an adventure in wind.
Yes please show some pics. My Capri I believe has the original sails from the early 90s ( Capri sails manufacturer) and the draft is pretty deep. I do see the shape changing so that the draft is moved forward when I tighten the Cunningham I rigged. I do not have an adjustable backstay. I can see tightening the halyard a little, but the flattener eyelet seems to have a more dramatic effect on bringing the draft forward and flattening a bit. It does put a little crease in the shape, but still seems to be an improvement. Upwind in decent air, tighten the cunningham, outhaul, and halyard to point a little higher. Downwind, loosen Cunningham outhaul, adjust vang to prevent boom rising. If you are wondering why I haven't bought sails ( 23 years is long enough) the boat doesn't belong to me.
I have seen reefing jacklines used on larger boats that seem to work ok. You lace a line through the slugs and the luff cringles. When the luff is loose, the cringles can pull away from the mast and provide the slack needed to reef. When it is tight, everything is snugged up to the mast. I scraped around the web to find a picture and this is the best I could come up with. On my own sails, I put webbing and rings through the reefing tacks and that provided enough wiggle room to reef without releasing the bottom slugs, so I never had to go any further.
Of course, racers will recoil in disgust.
Of course, racers will recoil in disgust.
Some examples, first my tired old S2... You'll note the main on this boat is 25+ years old... probably has effectively though about 10 seasons on it.
Red circle is draft, note its probably in the first 35 percent, well forward of middle. Also note, green, is my flattener... The flattener in green will tension the leech, and flatten the WHOLE sail, but primarily the aft middle section. Note I have none attached.
Outhaul will flatten the aft lower section some, but more it'll reduce draft across the lower half of the sail.
Blue is my cunny, flopping in the breeze... There are no wrinkles (what my father used to call "scallops") in the main. Scallops are necessary when the winds are lighter (than shown) to provide a deeper, fuller main (or genoa)...
Ok so now I'm going to pick on myself. This was my first race with this boat, and my first race this season... winds were lighter when we started, winds grew by about 5 knots during the race... this was us just before the finish line... Note the newly formed "scallops" in the genoa? YEP, I've since figured out that the rope clutch is slipping on my genoa halyard (I use a clam cleat now while racing). It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that I've completely dumped my mainsail, and it's backwinding in this picture... what isn't as obvious, is my mainsheet is full on, my traveler is dropped my backstay is full on... I'm seriously overpowered (no thanks to that genoa). If you notice hard enough, you'll be able to tell too that my draft has slipped back considerably.. THIS is where the cunny is required. If I had applied my cunny that draft could have been moved back forward where it belonged and I'd be able to help this situation some (but only AFTER I slid my genoa car back a notch, and secured a tighter genoa halyard). I had new crew, that was inexperienced, so some things got neglected, and of course it was JUST the 2 of us... Not making excuses I'm a bit more thorough when I race this beast now.
Now contrast that with THIS picture of my Capri 25 with crisp laminate sails, loose foot, and honestly the sails just fell into good trim... Note there was wind disturbance from the darned topping lift which I later corrected by removing the topping lift all together, and replacing it with a boomkicker. But this was excellent trim, both genoa and main, upwind right at the start
Don't believe me.. see if you can see much curvature difference between the genoa leech and the main? Because you can actually see them both for about 1/3 of the height in this picture. I was quite proud of this start, as I was making time, realtime with the S2 7.9 which is admittedly a faster boat than the Capri 25... and the sailor I was able to keep pace with is one of our best sailors.
I like to use this next picture as my favorite ever for the boat, though because it encompasses good trim cracked off slightly from close hauled and everything is set pretty well perfect (a rarity for us).. Hard to tell draft, but outhaul is set correctly, sheet is correct, vang is correct, genoa halyard isn't too tight, headsail is set for maximum power, backstay is off (for power), and we're nearly at hull speed... just a nice picture... I get pictures of my own boats, and then as I stare at them I learn to hate what I've trimmed wrong. Am I the only one? Anyway, I used to have a copy of this picture that I circled everything and critiqued it still, but its one of the few I can find the least fault with while we were racing.
Red circle is draft, note its probably in the first 35 percent, well forward of middle. Also note, green, is my flattener... The flattener in green will tension the leech, and flatten the WHOLE sail, but primarily the aft middle section. Note I have none attached.
Outhaul will flatten the aft lower section some, but more it'll reduce draft across the lower half of the sail.
Blue is my cunny, flopping in the breeze... There are no wrinkles (what my father used to call "scallops") in the main. Scallops are necessary when the winds are lighter (than shown) to provide a deeper, fuller main (or genoa)...
Ok so now I'm going to pick on myself. This was my first race with this boat, and my first race this season... winds were lighter when we started, winds grew by about 5 knots during the race... this was us just before the finish line... Note the newly formed "scallops" in the genoa? YEP, I've since figured out that the rope clutch is slipping on my genoa halyard (I use a clam cleat now while racing). It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that I've completely dumped my mainsail, and it's backwinding in this picture... what isn't as obvious, is my mainsheet is full on, my traveler is dropped my backstay is full on... I'm seriously overpowered (no thanks to that genoa). If you notice hard enough, you'll be able to tell too that my draft has slipped back considerably.. THIS is where the cunny is required. If I had applied my cunny that draft could have been moved back forward where it belonged and I'd be able to help this situation some (but only AFTER I slid my genoa car back a notch, and secured a tighter genoa halyard). I had new crew, that was inexperienced, so some things got neglected, and of course it was JUST the 2 of us... Not making excuses I'm a bit more thorough when I race this beast now.
Now contrast that with THIS picture of my Capri 25 with crisp laminate sails, loose foot, and honestly the sails just fell into good trim... Note there was wind disturbance from the darned topping lift which I later corrected by removing the topping lift all together, and replacing it with a boomkicker. But this was excellent trim, both genoa and main, upwind right at the start
I like to use this next picture as my favorite ever for the boat, though because it encompasses good trim cracked off slightly from close hauled and everything is set pretty well perfect (a rarity for us).. Hard to tell draft, but outhaul is set correctly, sheet is correct, vang is correct, genoa halyard isn't too tight, headsail is set for maximum power, backstay is off (for power), and we're nearly at hull speed... just a nice picture... I get pictures of my own boats, and then as I stare at them I learn to hate what I've trimmed wrong. Am I the only one? Anyway, I used to have a copy of this picture that I circled everything and critiqued it still, but its one of the few I can find the least fault with while we were racing.
My stock '01 Mk II with three year old Ullman sails has three lines on the starboard side of the boom, going forward it's outhaul, cunningham and flattening reef (pulls down leech). I consider them in that order, i.e., pulling on outhaul as wind increases, then cunningham and lastly, flattening reef.shnool said:
Apropos of cunninghams, the mid 20th century American sportsman Briggs Cunningham is credited as its creator.
Wooster