RAKE, HELM AND HEADSTAY SAG

TUNING AND RAKE, HELM & HEADSTAY SAG

· The basics. the mast should be centered in the (measure. partners can be off) and chocked in the partners.

· Tighten the shrouds so that the mast stays straight.

· Adjust the headstay and backstay so that you have about zero rake with the head and headstay loose but not sagging excessively (Taut, but not tight).

· Use your backstay adjuster to get about 4-5 inches of rake.

· Go sailing in 10 knots or so of wind. The leeward shrouds when close hauled should not flop around.

· Adjust both port and stbd shrouds so that the mast is straight when close hauled and the leeward shrouds are slightly "soft" but not flopping around.

· Now evaluate weather helm, genoa draft and headstay sag. If there's excessive weather helm, draft is aft and headstay sagging, tighten the headstay to move the MH slightly forward and allow you to tighten the headstay (to reduce sag and move genoa draft forward) without generating excessive weather helm.

· If there's neutral helm and headstay sag, take more backstay tension with the adjuster and re-evaluate.

One tip for easily gauging forestay sag. If you put some vertical lines on the forward face of the mast at the lower spreader height, spaced out from the centerline every inch (using a permanent black marker) and then some more on the spreaders moving outboard, you have in essence given yourself a ruler to look at when sitting in the pulpit and looking at the sag under sail in relation to the marks. Once you have figured out what works best for your boat upwind in different windspeeds, you can easily repeat the setting. I've been on so many boats where someone in the cockpit will shout to the foredeck crew "how much sag is there" and there is always this seasoned, mystical look up at the rig and a hand signal between finger and thumb indicating "x" amount of sag.

Forestay - 15% for general sailing, up to 25% while racing.Uppers - 15%for double lowers (which I can't remember if the 305 has those)Forward lowers 10-12%Aft lowers 8 to 10%Single lowers 10-12%The artistic part of the equation is to be out in conditions where the boat is healing over 25 degrees and check how slack the leeward shrouds are. They should be just slack, not flopping around. You'll find that grinding in the backstay upwind will make the aft lowers slacker

Name of the Olson 30 prototype?

PACIFIC HIGH

Toilet Seat Trivia

Where did the saying "Just got beat by a toilet seat come from"?

First, lots of people in bigger boats were getting beat by this boat with a weird shaped "O" icon. The story is that the "O" was produced by tracing a TOILET SEAT. I always thought the reference had to do with how you had a similar sensation from sitting on a toilet seat for a long time as you do from sitting on the various rails of the O30.

Double Spreader Rig Tune - note the #'s

we've run an O30 with a variety of forestay lengths ranging from 37'-2" to 37'-10" based on conditions, mast butt position and sails we were using. in the lighter breeze we went with the longer forestay set-up using the #1. as breeze increased up to 11-13 knots we shorten the forestay length (approx. 1.5-2 inches) and tighten the lowers (2-3 half turns), still carrying the #1, length adjusted, again based on sea state and sail design as well as crew weight (we generally sailed with a crew weight of 980-1022 lbs.) with 13-15 knots and the #2 up we make minor increases in the adjustments. when we were in #3 conditions we began to lengthen the forestay to max. length and increase cap shroud tension and lowers 2-3 half turns again.we used 19 as a base on the cap shrouds and would dial down to 17 and up to 22 for our area and conditions. the lowers were in a range of 12-14 for our base setting and we would drop down to 10 and up to 15 but always focusing on keeping the mast straight with the lowers.we originally set up the boat with our full team hikinh, sailing upwind in 12 knots of breeze, with the backstay on 80%, making sure the uppers were snug and tensioning the lowers to keep the mast straight while giving the boat 3-4 degrees of weather helm by adjusting the forestay.this boat has an original single spreader rig with double spreader configuration. these numbers seemed to work in one design and phrf.

Rig Tune

War Dog,I tided up to you Sat night for a bit and the rig was real soft. We ran 19 on our Olson 30. Hoot is around 19 as well.Aperson
19 is the uppers we tune the middle and lowers so the mast is straight - dbl sprdr rig

If you are going to rebuild the mast step I would put a Jock Strap in and maybe a BOD. PM me and I will email you the instructions I wrote for the Olson 30 Website. I wrote them for both the Jock Strap and BOD. Also I have pictures of the new approved bulkhead stiffeners I can send you.