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[Jackdaw]

Interesting that it happened in front of you.
Happy no one was hurt.
That it happens to racers is a result of seeking all that they can out of their boats.
The frequency of occurrence supports the statement of my rigger friend that many more boats in the marina have bad rigging than one might imagine.

Two years ago I walked down two of the docks at WYC and took pictures of random rigging misdemeanors on our boats. I think I stopped at 10. Missing rings, improper hardware, spreaders pointed DOWN, bent stainless. Posted them all on our club FB page. Created quite a stir.

I've found that being a good racer does not necessarily make you a good SAILOR.

 

[Jackdaw]

Interesting that even at that wind strength three purpose built racing boats had mast failures. I could understand knockdowns, broaches etc. but wouldn’t the rigs of the J 105’s be designed to handle 30 or even more without failure?

Here's the deal.

Earlier I said that 99% of rig failures are maintenance issues. Most of those DO happen in racing.

I also said that strong wind does not blow down rigs, but there is a special partial exception to that.

Sailing downwind. When beating or reaching, the boat will heel when overpowered, automatically relieving pressure well inside the safety margin. But DDW, there is no way to relieve that. So a skipper has to be careful. Now many of these are still no-longer-up-to-spec parts, because the margins become MUCH smaller.

I've been on a 105 many times in 30 knots of breeze, and the rig was fine. But in tip-top shape. You have to remember that a 105 rig can now be 30 years old.

In huge breeze, sometimes you get beyond the spec of a solid rig, and you loose it. Rare.

 

[Hunter216]

Here's the deal.

Earlier I said that 99% of rig failures are maintenance issues. Most of those DO happen in racing.

I also said that strong wind does not blow down rigs, but there is a special partial exception to that.

Sailing downwind. When beating or reaching, the boat will heel when overpowered, automatically relieving pressure well inside the safety margin. But DDW, there is no way to relieve that. So a skipper has to be careful. Now many of these are still no-longer-up-to-spec parts, because the margins become MUCH smaller.

I've been on a 105 many times in 30 knots of breeze, and the rig was fine. But in tip-top shape. You have to remember that a 105 rig can now be 30 years old.

In huge breeze, sometimes you get beyond the spec of a solid rig, and you loose it. Rare.

I sort of assumed some of this but don’t have your depth of experience to really have a solid opinion.

When I read about 3 of the 105’s failing my “assumption” was that they all had too much sail deployed for the conditions. The who is going to blink first - competition thing, skipper NOT being careful

Your comment on 30 yr old rigs has me curious about “maintenance” of a race boat or I guess any boat of that “vintage”.

I see replacing standing rigging (the wire, mast attachments and turnbuckles) as being fairly easy to accomplish.
Replacing chain plate and the structure of the hull where they are located as somewhat more complicated, so likely might not get the care they deserve.

My curiosity lies with do you know of anyone who would replace the actual mast / boom at a certain baseline age as a best practice?