Do you
need them? Well, that's a matter of opinion and perspective, I'd say.
On a masthead rig, a backstay tensioner
primarily adjusts headstay tension. You can use this to improve performance by carefully tuning headstay and halyard tension, depending on tack and wind conditions. It
may also mildly affect mast bend, tho not nearly as much as on fractional rigs.
Same with the Cunningham, tho, of course, this is a mainsail adjustment. You can use it to fine-tune mainsail shape.
But I think you already knew these things
If you're not racing, and unless you enjoy tweaking things to gain an extra fraction of a knot here-and-there, I would think you'd find little use for them.
Personally, even when just day sailing, I enjoy tweaking things to get that extra fraction of a knot. Particularly in going to weather in heavy air, or off the wind in light air, I find the backstay adjuster on Abracadabra handy for that.
Abracadabra doesn't yet have a Cunningham, tho she will--perhaps before the season's out, depending on finances. There have been times, going to weather, when I wanted to tighten the luff just a little bit more, and was unable to achieve what I wanted with the main halyard. The Cunningham would've been great to have on those occasions. There've been other times where the Captain screwed-up, and forgot to re-trim the main halyard before changing tacks
(say, before rounding a mark), where a Cunningham could've made up for the oversight.
I probably wouldn't usually bother rigging the Cunningham unless we were going to be racing. The less clutter on the decks, the better.
Jim
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