On Friday at Key West we were very fast in 22 kt with the headstay set at the minimum length and the lowers tightened 4 turns. Prior to leaving the dock, we also tightened the uppers 3 turns, which in turn pulled the D2 on and straightened the rig. Adjusting the upper is a way to effectively tension the D2 without going up the rig. Once your uppers are set, ease the backstay and tighten the headstay to the desired length. We have ratchet blocks for the sheets and guys and we moved the spin.
Sheet block forward to the pad-eye for the guy, which gives a better lead to the winch in a breeze.
We've added auto-ratchet blocks for the backstay control line where it turns outboard to the cleat to provide some resistance when it is tight. Running rigging Use tapered sheets and guys to a common shackle and have a single spectra jib sheet with a single j-lock shackle in the middle. We normally pull one jib halyard up the mast to minimize weight aloft and we have tapered all our halyards. The main halyard tail is a single braid spectra to save weight. We did have some chafe problems with the jib halyards which may have been caused by some over length fasteners for the Ronstan pad-eyes that are used to fairlead the halyards at the hounds.