Standing alone

We take a look at how to set up your unstayed rig

Perhaps the style of rig that offers the most widely different approaches is that of the unstayed mast, typically seen on singlehanders.

There are essentially two routes you can take with this type of rig: the first is the inexpensive one design route such as the Laser where you take a simple alloy tube (or in the Lasers case two alloy tubes) step it in some way and that is your mast. The other route to take is that of the Finn or Europe class whereby the rules governing building materials and shape are much more relaxed, allowing sailors to develop and choose masts more suited to their weight and/or technique.

Even though the simplest masts such as the Laser's have little in the way of set up it is still very important to understand what is going with the rig when you are out on the water. Naturally mast bend and reaction have the biggest effect on sail shape and through this a direct relationship to actual hull speed. With the simplest of rigs the two greatest controls you have on mast bend are leech tension (either through kicker or mainsheet) and mast bend through Cunningham. It is also important to realise that with this sort of rig there is little to prevent the whole thing from having side bend. This side bend significantly reduces the power in the sail and makes the rig effectively behave a little like a gust responsive system. This also means you have to consider exactly how much you need to de-power manually through the use of controls such as leech tension and cunningham.

On a boat like a Finn through the manufacturing or selection process you are able to some extent to decide the amount of bend happening on the mast, though there will always be an amount of uncontrolled side bend.



The bend characteristics of a mast can be measured by placing and clamping the foot of any mast onto a trestle, hanging a weight onto the end and measuring the deflection at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of the way along the mast. This will give numbers for both fore and aft and side bend - something important for sail manufacturers to know when creating sails for particular masts. Interestingly in some classes the numbers used by sail makers vary slightly from company to company. In the Finn class different lofts use different weights to measure the bend in masts. As a rule, for example, North Sails use a 10kg weight and will have numbers for mast bend that correlate to these weights whereas a Victory sail is made based on numbers taken from a 12kg weight. With this sort of variety it is well worth checking with your intended sail manufacturer exactly how they measure mast bend before working out and giving them the numbers for your mast.

Even in the comparatively basic Laser there is some amount of mast measuring that goes on. The method for the measuring of Laser masts is their extrusion meaning if they are put on accurate scales one can tell how heavy they are, clearly the heavier the mast is the more material must be in it so the stiffer it must be. So, within the Laser fleet there are some sailors always hunting for the heaviest, stiffest mast section and some, lighter sailors, always hunting for the lighter, bendier masts. This has gone as far in the past as sailors looking for a heavy, stiff bottom section and a light, bendy top section. These tolerances are usually small and arguably not worth worrying about too much for the average sailor, however, wherever there are small differences like this someone will be exploiting them so it may as well be you.

Going back to classes like the Europe where there is a choice of sail manufacturers there is one particularly important point that comes from all of this: mast bend and sail shape are intrinsically linked. There is no point spending a significant amount of time developing and working on what mast you want to use without spending that same time looking at how certain sails behave with certain masts. This is all relatively simple if you are purchasing a brand new mast and sail combination, but if you are after something secondhand then this mast/sail relationship requires consideration. Central to all of this is no matter how new or how much of a bargain any sail is, if it does not fit your mast then it will not be any good for you. If you are buying a secondhand sail the person selling it should have an idea of the sort of mast the sail was made for and will have a list of suitable numbers for the sail.



Of course the reason there are different types of mast in many classes is because they are suited to different types of sailor. Essentially most masts will have similar side bend characteristics but will have more fore and aft flexibility for lightweight sailors and be stiffer for heavier sailors. In this way it is likely if you are buying secondhand, you should buy from someone with roughly the same build as you - not a recommended way of purchasing but something to consider when looking at kit.

On some boats with un-stayed rigs it is still possible to adjust the rake of the entire mast, giving oneself much more control over the set-up than on a boat with a fixed rake. In broad terms the rake of the mast controls the leech tension. All sail manufacturers have an idea of what leech tension they are making sails for, however, the leech tension will vary for any rake depending on how flexible the mast is, as masts under load will bend different amounts. Measuring mast rake on an unstayed rig is largely the same as on all other boats: a tape measure should be attached onto the main halyard, or to the point on the mast the sail goes up to and then measured from this top point back down to the transom of the boat. All classes have their own points that are widely used for measuring rake but it is usually measured to the top of the transom or to the hole in the transom for the rudder, if there is one.

To start with there will probably be a baseline rake setting recommended by the sail maker, although as masts are different this should just be treated as a base point. To check this rake, sail the boat upwind with the boom to the usual sheeting point - the deck in some classes - and look at the leach tell tails. If all of these tell tails are streaming then the rake is probably about right, though further testing against others, or more time out on the race track will show if this needs further consideration. It is always important to remember this sort of mast and rig tuning is infinitely harder to do by yourself and spending time out on the water with a friend, or an expert, will dramatically reduce testing time and increase your speed.

In some classes there is also the possibility of moving the mast as a whole fore or aft, so changing the balance of the boat. To work out how well balanced your boat is go out on the water in light to moderate conditions and sail upwind with the main fully sheeted in. When the boat is sailing upwind you should be able to feel if there is too much weather helm. If the steering feels almost neutral with a tiny bit of weather helm the mast position is good. If there is lee helm move the rig aft to increase the weather helm and vice versa. Fore and aft movement of the mast can also be adjusted based on conditions. Generally a mast located further back will give a little more height upwind and is to be used in slightly lighter weather and flat water.



Sail controls vary from the Lasers basic kicker, downhaul and outhaul system to boats with more controls led to both side decks to make adjustment easier. Typically the kicker is particularly important and should be within reach most of the time if allowed by your class rules. Outhaul will be adjusted on a fairly regular basis, at the very least at every mark. Downhaul will not need to be adjusted too much while racing but it should be noted it is important to have the correct amount on in the first place. For those boats with inhaul this is the least used control for your sail, most of the time this will remain neutral, on occasion you may want a fuller sail so this can be pulled on a little to increase depth forward.

The key to perfecting the un-stayed rig lies in getting the initial set-up right. Time working on rig set-up and mast/sail combinations off the race course will inevitably lead to better results or at least better boat speed. Unfortunately there are few shortcuts here, it is all about spending the time on the water understanding how your rig works for you.