[Rhodes22-list] preventers

[Roger Pihlaja]

Bruce,

We never bother with rigging a preventer for the following reasons:

The Rhodes 22 has a relatively small mainsail with a stout mast, boom, and
gooseneck.  Thus, although an unintentional jibe can scare the living
daylights out of you, it is unlikely to harm the rigging.  You do however
want to mind your head & the swing of the boom, which is sort of like a 10
ft. long aluminum bat.  You get used to it, but it's not idiot proof.

The traveller on the Rhodes 22 is suspended from the double backstays.  Any
shock loading from an unintentional jibe is absorbed by deflecting the
backstays.  This design feature really works as advertised and it's unique
to the Rhodes 22!

Normally, the only time an unintentional jibe occurs is on a light air run
directly downwind, usually wing-on-wing or while flying a spinnaker.  Light
air conditions also frequently have a highly variable wind direction.  Thus,
you can have a flucky wind shift, not catch it in time, & unintentionally
jibe.  But, with the low wind speed, the forces involved makes this
unintentional jibe merely an annoyance and not a danger.  In fact, if a
preventer were rigged; then, one would have to go forward, release the
preventer, get back on course, and then reset the preventer.  It's been our
experience that preventers are usually more trouble and cause more problems
than they are worth under these conditions and point of sail.

Normally, it is faster to go downwind by broad reaching & intentionally
jibing.  On this point of sail, the chances of an unintentional jibe are
pretty remote.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: <bgreenwald at optonline.net>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2004 1:23 PM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] preventers


> I have often wondered whether there is a need to rig a
> preventer when sailing downwind on the Rhodes and, if
> so, what the recommended approach is.  I don't recall
> seeing any discussion of the subject on the list, but it is
> always mentioned in any articles I have read as an almost
> mandatory step.
> I understand that the R22 traveler provides some shock
> absorption to the rigging in the case of an unintended jibe
> but I don't know if this avoids the need for something
> more.
>
> Bruce Greenwald
> S/V Ruach II
>
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