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Writer's pictureNigel Barrow

What happened at the worlds - Rig design


There was no greater contrast between the simplicity of Ian Vickers rig and the Venti rig and the more complex VISS rig.   Ian’s V12 was what I would call relatively conventional, think of Britpop style rigging except the mast is deck stepped with a mast ram, spreader and conventional shrouds and the jib tie down is a metal Sailetc hook. It is as simple as that. No fancy gimmicks and it seems to work so well.


In the Photo below Ian Vickers 61 is crossing Zvonko Jelacek 35


The Venti rig is similar to the Vickers but hull stepped.


The VISS on the other hand has a few more variables. Starting at the front, the jib tie down is attached to a magnet in a slot in the deck which can be moved fore and aft and the height of the jib boom can be adjusted with a bowsie. The jib attachment point on the boom can also be adjusted fore and aft. The shroud attachment point (where the shroud meets the mast) can be raised and lowered as the actual shroud attachment point is few inches above the mid point band and there is a grub screw to allow this to be adjusted. I assume the shrouds run up the front of the mast to provide extra stiffness in the upper third and will allow for the creation of a more even bend through the entire mast. No idea how much or little rig tension might be required and unfortunately I never pinged the shrouds to find out. There is a weight sacrifice at the top of the mast as well as extra windage but that did not seem to impact the VISS sailing in a chop.




Both the man boom and jib boom are on the flat deck so de-powering adjustments will be slightly different with this design.  I noticed several marks on Zvonko’s boat to adjust height of jib boom and to move the jib attachment along the jib boom.  


Aside form the above rigging differences, Ian’s sails were seamed, Zvonko’s were moulded.  For me having sailed with a set of moulded sails, the difference is the amount of twist you carry because you can build extra shape into the top of the sails. I estimate the amount of twist is up to 20mm more on a moulded jib.


Overall there is little difference to tell between them speed wise, if there was any difference the margins were infinitesimal. It was a shame we never got to see the VISS sailing in light flat water conditions.


A lovely simple layout on Ian Vickers Boat





I apologise for not having any close up pictures of Ian's boat because it all looked so normal, I could not see a reason for taking a picture and the Venti can be seen at most clubs. The other piece of the jig saw I could not assertain was the amount of prebend used on each of the rigs. This will be unique to each design and I am sure if you acquire one of the top designs you will get information on the rig preparation


Regarding sails used by the fleet, the pie chart below sent to me by the organisers shows the spread of sailmakers used. The largest proportion of sails at this regatta came from BG Sails and Design with 38% of the fleet. Next was Sailboat RC with 28%, Vickers with 12% and the rest making up the balance. Another way of looking at this is moulded sails 27.9%, seamed sails 72.1%.






So you can see the comparison of competitors and designs in the top 20, I include the results below




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