Spin pole downhaul block placement

[cmj]

Hi all,

A co-owner on our 27ft racer wants to move the spin pole downhaul block back to the base of the mast from its usual position halfway between the mast and forestay, as we''ve recently broken the pole''s wire bridles due to cranking the pole back without releasing the downhaul (oops).

Moving the block back to the base of the mast seems dangerous to me as it''ll be under the bowman''s feet during jibes, and the downward tension on the bridles won''t be balanced. I''ve also never seen this on other boats.

Can anyone advise as to whether this is safe / a good idea?

[fer@fer]

I greee with you. Moving the spin pole downhaul block back to the base of the mast from its current position is not a good idea. You gave the correct reasons why not.

You might also wan''t to post this question to Brion''s Toss spartalk at http://www.briontoss.com/
and also reviewing he''s Archive looking for a similar question.

Regards

Fernando

[mikehoyt]

Isnt the placement of the downhaul block used to hold the pole in place? It is my belief that the downhaul, guy an uphaul hold the pole in position. Without the proper placement of the block the pole would probably move all over the place.

Regards,

Mike

[Jeff_H]

There are two thoughts on that, small boats tend to use a pole downhaul that is located at the base of the mast and is on the axis of the pole eye. This permits quick adjustments of the pole with trimming the downhaul and easier end for end jibes. Larger boats use a foreguy which is mounted below the bridle (or pole end) and which stabilizes the position of the pole, allows for easier dip pole jibes but which requires trimming when the guy is trimmed.

Jeff