Mark,
What a great explanation of the procedure you used on the jib track.
Every time I see a picture of your boat I get a little more excited. It's
beautiful. While you probably dread putting on the non-skid, I think it will
be what your Swift needs to remind people that it is a high performance
sailing machine. I'll try to find a couple different non-skid patterns that
have
worked well for me to post on the website. It is extremely important that the
pattern be functional.
If you or any other Swift builders get substantially rigged but need help
figuring it out, I would be glad to fly back to help you (you need to pay the
expenses). I've been really impressed with the mailing list help from
everybody and this offer is likely unnecessary. So far, everybody has
eventually
been able to figure it out with this help. Also, final tweaking of the
rigging can be done at Fort Desoto and I will be glad to take a quick spin in
anybody's Swift to help sort it out as long as we do it during the clinic
days--not regatta days.
As a general note to all builders: I'm counting on you guys to help keep
the Swift's rigging above anything that might come along by engaging in the
process of constant improvement. Single handed three sail skiff sailing is
our
baby and it has been, and continues to be, a really fun new brain teaser. I
can potentially save you a lot of time and expense with a little
communication. The number of ideas I've tired that have failed would blow
your mind
(and likely, your confidence in my design capabilities). I've used the
approach
that an "infinite number of chimpanzees at an infinite number of typewriters
will eventually write the Declaration of Independence". If you have a
rigging idea, you may want to post a general overview on the mailing list so
you
can benefit from and avoid the portion of the idea that has already been tried
and failed. Please don't read this to mean that, because a rigging idea
has been tried and failed, it's not worth pursuing. Rather, use the mailing
list to learn from the failures and design around them. With this kind of
communication, we can and will take single handed sailing to yet another new
level.
Best regards,
Bram
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