Randy, This is what I did...
Randy, I did quite a bit of research and talking with various dealers/racers/yard guys and this is what I ended up with. After ensuring the mast is on the fore-aft centerline of the boat, I tensioned the upper shrouds (with the backstay completely off) until there was approximately one inch of prebend in the mast. I measured the prebend using the main halyard that I pushed in to the mast track right above the boom. I then tensioned the halyard so that it would be relatively straight and sighted up the mast track to view prebend. Make sure to do this on a calm day or it will take forever as the halyard will blow all over the place. After the prebend was in the mast, I tensioned the lowers until about half of the prebend was taken out. This works very well for our lake sailing here in Colorado. We have light shifty winds with the occasional gusty winds in front of big thunderstorms. (Hey I sail whatever I can get as our sailing season is reasonably short, 6 mos at best...) The main thing is to not let the lower shrouds go completely slack on the leeward side when going upwind. I did quite a bit of tuning one weekend and found that everything worked out very well when I was done. I will check the upper and lower tensions tonight and let you know. The main thing to stress is that prior to any tuning, make sure all the turnbuckles and rigging are in good shape. I have heard of a couple of people having their rigs let go while tuning. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I don't feel like dealing with a dismasting. Hope this helps. Clayton
