Sailboat Rigging

Yacht Rigging Services

Rigging is our specialty. Years working as a Sailmaker for Quantum and North Sails, it was necessary to get accustomed to completely retuning the rigs for new sails and racing conditions. Hired by Gunboat International in NC to be the Rigging Team Leader of the Gunboat 55 Production, Jay had the opportunity to work with some of the nicest and most expensive carbon fiber rigging products on the market. Experienced with Rigging layout and design, Jay actually solved one of the most challenging conundrums on the Gunboat 55 with a custom designed mast base block system that diverted 4 rows of highly loaded halyards, furling, and other control lines to their endpoints on the winch plinth. If you are looking for basic alloy rigging repairs, mast repairs, electronics sensor installations, or complete rigging redesigns, we have the background and experience to do it to the highest standards.

Is Fiber Rigging right for my boat?

One of the main reasons for fiber rigging is to reduce weight aloft by replacing heavy alloy rigging with the substantially lighter fiber/composite rigging. This reduces a sailboat’s pitching and healing moment. If you are competitive on your sailboat and not restricted by any racing rules or rating penalties for having fiber rigging then it is a great option to enhance the performance of your sailing. Note though that a big expense like this should be accompanied with other weight saving efforts on the boat. If you are going to spend $10k on the rigging replacement but have the heaviest sails, and store full tanks of fuel, water, and blackwater and have granite countertops in your galley, its kind of pointless. To enhance the your boats performance, weight has to also be taken out of the ends of the boat (bow and stern), all cabinets emptied for racing, tanks drained to the bare minimum, have a ceiling on weight of crew gear on board, etc. etc. etc. Its this kind of meticulous counting of the weight on board that starts making a difference in the performance when coupled with high end rigging replacements. Frequently even while sailing a close race with another boat, it helps even to have latent crew sit below as close to the keel as possible. Crew kinetics are extremely important to maximize your boat speed and reduce the drag in the ends of the boat.

Alternatively, with multihulls like the Stiletto or even the Gunboat, some fiber rigging choices make handling the rigging simpler. With the advent of affordable high tech materials like Dyneema, the performance boats have been reversing the heavy turnbuckle trend more in favor of lighter weight shroud lashings, high strength dyneema loops, high friction rings instead of blocks, and more. We use Dyneema SK99 on our 27 foot catamaran for shrouds and stays because its easy to work with on and off the boat with ample working load capabilities at the correct diameter.