[heinzir]

Hi Gorlog,

I sent the brochures to your email. I'm answering some of the questions in your private post here on the forum in the hopes they will benefit other Venture sailors. Just keep in mind that these thoughts are my opinions only; every sailor has his own way of doing things. There's an old saying, "different ships, different long-splices." I have owned Chiquita for over 30 years, however, and have tried many different ways of doing things. The setup I have now is what works best for me. I mostly singlehand with a couple of young kids aboard.

First, your question about the mainsheet block: It doesn't matter if you use a double (side by side) or a fiddle (tandem) block. I've used both. I prefer the side by side type for this application just because it does not hang down quite as far.

As for cleats, all sheets need to be adjusted frequently and need to be able to be released instantly. I use Harken 150 cam cleats with Xtreme fairleads on all my sheets. They are pricey but IMHO are the best for this job. Halyards are usually not adjusted once the sails are up. Horn cleats are fine for the halyards. If you look at the pictures of Chiquita ( CHIQUITA pictures from sailing photos on webshots ) you will see a row of horn cleats on the bulkheads on either side of the companion way. I used these for my halyards for many years. Last winter I installed a couple of PXR cam cleats on the cabin top for the halyards just for convenience sake -- they make it a bit easier to get the last few inches of tension cleated without giving up any when trying to wrap the line around the cleat. (I don't have halyard winches.) I now use those horn cleats as hooks to hang the halyard tails. The PXRs are mounted between the pair of Harken cam cleats on the edge of the cabin top on either side of the companion way. (On my cutter rig I have two sets of headsail sheets to contend with: the jib and the staysail.)

The vang is an important sail control and should have a cam cleat or a clam cleat for quick adjustability. Do not use the plastic Clam cleats -- they slip under load and they wear rapidly. The composite ones made by Ronstan are probably ok, as are the aluminum ones.

The outhaul is a control whose frequency of adjustment depends on how serious you are about performance. Many sailors just set it once and forget it -- for years. Others have a multi-part tackle and adjust it every time the conditions change. I use an aluminum clam cleat here.

If you are buying new running rigging, it is a good idea to use different colors for different functions. There is no standard. On Chiquita I use green for the mainsail controls, blue for the staysail, and red for the jib. Sheets are solid color, halyards and other controls are white with colored stripes. I use 5/16" line for the halyards, 3/8" for the sheets, 1/4" for various control lines, and 3/16" for the jib and staysail dousing lines. You can use smaller diameters for the sheets and halyards but they will be hard on your hands. Note: if you use the PXRs for halyards, make sure the lines you use go through them smoothly. Not all 3/8" lines run smoothly through a 3/8" PXR. Ask me how I know.

From my experience with Ventures (I had a 21 before I bought my 23) here are a few changes I consider very important:
1. The stock mainsail has no slugs or slides to attach it to the mast; you are supposed to feed the bolt rope into the mast groove. While this is aerodynamically efficient, it is a real PITA. It takes 2 people and cannot be done from the cockpit. Have your sailmaker add slugs to the main if it doesn't have them. Also put some sort of stop at the bottom of the slot just above the opening to keep the slugs from falling out when the sail is dropped. This can be the knurled nut kind, a bolt or Faspin inserted into a hole in the groove, or even a shock cord tied around the mast.
2. The standard roller reefing is useless. Install a good reefing system.
3. A powerful boom vang is essential to control the twist of the main.
4. Run a downhaul (jib dousing line) from the top of the jib, through a block at the tack, and back to the cockpit. This will let you pull the jib down without going up on deck -- assuming the halyard is cleated within easy reach.

These, I think, are the essentials. Everything else is extra.

Oh yeah, one more thing -- the keel winch. If your winch is like a standard trailer winch where you flick a little lever to reverse the direction, get rid of it immediately. These are dangerous. My wife did serious damage to her arm and I almost broke mine several times when the handle got away from us. If you let go of it for even a second when the winch is in the reverse mode the weight of the keel will cause the handle to spin uncontrollably, destroying anything that gets in the way. Get the kind of winch that has an internal brake -- a brake winch -- that will stay in place when you let go of it.

By the way, if you look at the pictures of Chiquita in my Webshots album, the pictures showing her with a yellow deck are old and may show rigging I have since changed; the pictures with a tan/light brown deck are newer. I painted her two years ago.