How to Rig Everything in Your Favor || Cruising World
Learning how to inspect for small rigging problems can stop them from becoming bigger ones after you’ve left the dock.
- By Jamie Gifford
- March 22, 2024
As sailboat races go, the first Wednesday-night race of the season was off to a cracking start. Our crew maneuvered ungracefully prestart, and we were sloppy tacking aboard the J/35, but our winter fog lifted as we beat toward the windward mark.
Then the sailing therapy abruptly ended with a crash.
As dismastings go, this one was uncomplicated. The windward cap shroud failed at the upper T fitting. What had been installed by a rigger the week before became a mess of wires, crumpled aluminum, and torn Kevlar. I was a sailmaker at the time, and my takeaway was clear: Never trust riggers.