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Old 02-09-2014, 17:29   #1
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C&C 41 Running Backstays

Just bought a new to us C&C 41 with running backstays. Are they worth keeping on if not racing?
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Old 02-09-2014, 18:33   #2
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Re: C&C 41 Running Backstays

Take your boat out one day when it's breezy and beat into a 4-6 foot chop. Stand by the shrouds and sight up the mast. If it isn't pumping enough to scare you, then you probably don't need the runners.
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Old 02-09-2014, 19:00   #3
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Re: C&C 41 Running Backstays

You will rarely use them, but when you do, they are worth their weight in gold. If C&C had made their mast strong enough to not need them, they would not be there. 99% of the time they will be tied off and out of the way. That 1% when you are beating your brains out to get upwind in a chop, they come into play. Just another opinion. _____Grant.
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Old 02-09-2014, 19:45   #4
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Re: C&C 41 Running Backstays

Actually, I think we share the same opinion, but you just phrased it better :-)
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Old 02-09-2014, 20:23   #5
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Re: C&C 41 Running Backstays

Do you have a staysail stay or separate stay for a storm jib?? Definitely will use them going to weather when it gets nasty if you do. If they made the mast strong enough not to need them, the mast wall and section would have had to be much thicker/bigger and heavier which would hurt performance..
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Old 02-09-2014, 20:53   #6
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Re: C&C 41 Running Backstays

Are you aware of the C&C owners group(s), resource center, & forums etc.? If not, here's a start for you anyway C&C Yachts - C&C Photo Album & Resource Center

As to the runner's question, what's above is valid. But also, runners are a great tool for shaping the main. When it starts to blow, and the main begins to look closer to a "D-Cup" than to the "B-cup" it did 10kts of wind ago, wind on the runners a bit & they'll definitely help things. As in flatten out the main.
Doing that is sometimes enough to depower the main sufficiently so that you aren't sailing on your ear, but leaves you with enough power to punch through a choppy sea. Whereas were you to reef under such circumstances, you might loose enough that you wind up hobby horsing a lot more. Making for a slower, as well as, far less comfortable ride.
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Old 03-09-2014, 00:33   #7
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Re: C&C 41 Running Backstays

Hey, uncivilized, good post.

A.
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Old 03-09-2014, 03:39   #8
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Re: C&C 41 Running Backstays

Quote:
Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED View Post
Are you aware of the C&C owners group(s), resource center, & forums etc.? If not, here's a start for you anyway C&C Yachts - C&C Photo Album & Resource Center

As to the runner's question, what's above is valid. But also, runners are a great tool for shaping the main. When it starts to blow, and the main begins to look closer to a "D-Cup" than to the "B-cup" it did 10kts of wind ago, wind on the runners a bit & they'll definitely help things. As in flatten out the main.
Doing that is sometimes enough to depower the main sufficiently so that you aren't sailing on your ear, but leaves you with enough power to punch through a choppy sea. Whereas were you to reef under such circumstances, you might loose enough that you wind up hobby horsing a lot more. Making for a slower, as well as, far less comfortable ride.
That's an interesting thought, UnC, but it seems kinda backwards to me. Cranking on the runners (in a masthead rig) pulls the center of the mast aft, straightening the mast which was bowing forward. This is opposite to the idea of bending the mast with the backstay to flatten the main by moving the center of the mast forward.

Where am I going wrong in this?

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Old 03-09-2014, 04:38   #9
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Re: C&C 41 Running Backstays

Ann and Jim...

On a 3 hr watch schedule are we???

Hee hee... I think ya'll are sittin', but I thought the post times were funny...
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