This introductory guide is intended as a brief summary of how to quickly and easily rig the 5000. The guide is divided into four sections:
1. Rigging the mast1 RIGGING THE MAST
Stepping the mast
The easiest method to step the mast is as follows:
Leave the boat secured to the trailer and attached to the car tow hitch.
Alternatively, sit someone on the bow to prevent it from lifting.
Pick up the mast and place it with the sail track pointing downwards on
the 5000 with the heel/tenon over the mast step and the topmast beyond
the transom. Using a short length of line tie the kicker eye to the aft
most cross bolt on the mast step leaving about a two inch (50 millimetre)
gap between them. Next attach the shrouds 3 holes from the top of the
chainplates. This is a good medium position to start from. With the inner
end of the gennaker halyard attached securely in the boat, attach the
outer end to the bow eye.
Clear cunningham and kicker lines to the aft side of the mast step.
Standing in the boat, near the mainsheet jammer, lift the mast and
walking forward raise it about the heel into a vertical position. Check
that the tenon of the mast is fully engaged into the mast step between
the cross bolts and that both bolts are visible fore and aft of the mast.
Pull up the slack in the gennaker halyard and cleat off. As a temporary
forestay before the genoa is hoisted, take a trapeze wire around the
shrouds and attach the trapeze ring to the bow eye with a line and take
up the slack on the trapeze adjuster.
Attaching the Lowers
The Lowers are attached to the mast to pass behind the Morrison wires.
Take care that the "T" terminals are properly seated in their backing
plates on the mast. It is very important to have the lowers in the
correct range. Too little tension gives inadequate support to the mast,
too much can invert the mast. Ideally, the lowers should control the
lower mast bend from virtually straight to a curve consistent with the
overall mast bend.
Setting the Morrison wires
The Morrison wires prevent the mast
from inverting downwind and promote mast bend for light airs. Apply
tension to the wires by bending the mast using the main halyard attached
to the cunningham eye on the mast. With no mainsail set and the rig
tension on, there should be approximately five inches (125 millimetres)
of mast bend measured between the main halyard and the spreaders.
2 RIGGING THE TRAPEZE WIRES AND KICKER (VANG)
Trapeze Wires
Apart from the trapeze wire acting as a temporary forestay, attach the
other trapeze wires to the elastic retractors taking care to ensure that
the wires are not twisted.
Kicker (Vang)
The bottom block of the kicker can now be attached to the kicker eye on
the mast. The rest of the system should then be rigged in the manner
shown in the rigging diagrams in the Class Measurement Rules. When
de-rigging, it is only necessary to undo the lower kicker block from the
mast; the other blocks and lines need not be detached.
3 POWER EQUALISATION
Measuring your Weight and Righting Moment
The Class Measurement Rules detail the measurement of combined helm and
crew weight and righting moment. It should be noted that test
measurements are often carried out at the end of races organised by the
Class Association and that when taking part in handicap events, you
should be able to demonstrate to other competitors that you have abided
by the Class Measurement Rules in respect of rack settings and ballast
weights.
When setting the racks and determining the amount of ballast weights to
carry, measurements taken before the race should take into account the
effect of potential loss of body fluids and take up of water by clothing
and equipment. If in doubt, safety margins should be built into rack
settings and amounts of ballast weight carried. For example set the rack
one position in from the maximum setting given by the Rack Chart.
Setting the Racks
Once the rack position has been determined, the racks should be pulled
out to the appropriate setting. When inserting the pins into the racks,
check that they pass into the internal sliding tube correctly. This is
best done by trying to pull the rack out once the pins have been
inserted. Tape the pins into place using insulating tape wrapped right
around the tube. This will stop them falling out and prevent lines from
catching. Note that the first hole nearest the centre-line is counted as
position 0 in the Rack Chart. Loading the Ballast Weights The Ballast
Weights are in the form of lead coated in plastic and come in three
sizes; 1, 3 and 9 kilograms. The weights are held under the aluminium
retaining bar on the centre spine of the boat between the gennaker
control cleats and the mainsheet cleat.
4 RIGGING THE SAILS
The Genoa
The 2:1 genoa halyard reduces the compression loads on the mast but care
must be taken when raising the genoa to prevent the natural tendency for
the wire to throw twists into the halyard above the swivel. The ring
encircling the external gennaker halyard above the spreader and the
moving part of the halyard helps reduce the chance of twisting.
Additionally, lightly taping both parts of the upper swivel also helps.
This tape is then broken when the genoa is first furled.
Once the genoa is hoisted, attach the 3:1 purchase system to the loop in
the wire halyard. Make sure the rope tail of the halyard is not trapped
between the wire and hook. Tension the 3:1 to give a reading of 42 on a
Loos tension gauge, then furl the sail. Coil up the halyard and place in
the pocket on the underside of the gennaker bag.
The genoa sheets are set up to give a 2:1 purchase, thread the sheet from
the cleat platform through the deflection block on the genoa track up
through the clew cringle and back to the eye on the track slider. Repeat
for the opposite side, giving a continuous sheet arrangement. A good
average setting for the tracks is to have two holes showing in front of
them. Finally, return the trapeze wire acting as a temporary forestay to
its normal position.
The Gennaker
Imagine the gennaker as a flying jib and you can't go wrong! Attach the
tack line and then the sheets. The sheets are the same as for a jib in
that they pass behind the luff of the gennaker not around the front.
However they do pass ahead of the genoa luff! The halyard is attached to
the head last.
The tackline has a knot in it to act as a safety when the gennaker is
detached. Make sure that with the pole right out the knot is just at the
pole end. The tackline is adjusted at its inboard end at the deck eye.
Tie the gennaker as close to the knot as possible. The sail is stuffed
into the bag outside the genoa sheets
The gennaker halyard take up elastic runs from the aft pole support
through the block 200 millimetre in from the outboard end of the pole,
back into the boat and is attached to a floating block through which
passes the gennaker halyard.
The Mainsail
The battens must be secure in their pockets. FAILURE TO MAINTAIN TENSION
CAN RESULT IN DAMAGE TO THE MAINSAIL. The two parts of the batten
fastening line both pass from their tied side through the batten end. One
end passes up through the grommet on the sail, the other down through the
same grommet. Tension is applied and a reef knot tied as tightly as
possible. Having checked the battens, slide the webbing at the clew of
the mainsail over the aft end of the boom; thread the outhaul through the
clew cringle and secure into the boom notch with the knot inside the
boom. Ease the outhaul to its fullest extent. Standing inside the boat
place the plastic slides at the tack and cunningham into the "T" track on
the aft side of the mast. Check the 2:1 halyard is untwisted. Shackle the
halyard to the head of the sail, feed the bolt rope into the feeder and
sail track and carefully hoist the sail ensuring that the halyard is
running alongside the aluminium cleat and not through it, and the trapeze
wires are not caught on the mainsail battens at the leech.
When the sail is pulled right to the top of the mast, apply extra tension
to the halyard and place it in the cleat. Coil up the halyard and place
in the pocket on the underside of the gennaker bag. The cunningham is
connected to the centre point of the genoa sheets enabling the crew to
adjust the cunningham at all times. This control affects the depth of the
mainsail, the more cunningham applied the flatter the sail becomes, which
is necessary when sailing upwind in strong winds. Thread the line as
shown in measurement diagram