Broken strand on my front rig, looking for opinions.

[longjonsilver]

How lucky do you feel?

[riki]

Very lucky considering the bad weather and big sea i was sailing last time.
Anyways, thank you again all for answering. I am now waiting my rigger that will be back at beginning of July and finally solve the issue.
Cheers.

[ggray]

You have already made a good decision.

I was sailing our last boat south to the Bahamas, and while nearing Hatteras noticed one strand out of place on the jib stay bridle (no seagull striker). My experienced crew and I decided it was OK so we continued. And then saw very strong winds.

No failure, but on return to Virginia I had a rigger come by to replace it. He flexed the cable at that point, and at least 6 strands snapped.

I felt very lucky.

[riki]

Today i was talking with a friend of mine, a very experienced sailor, and he was giving me the idea about replacing the rig with spectra/dyneema 8mm cord. Opinions?

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by riki

Today i was talking with a friend of mine, a very experienced sailor, and he was giving me the idea about replacing the rig with spectra/dyneema 8mm cord. Opinions?

Perfectly fine option. Just as with fibre shrouds, size for stretch and not for strength. The diameter of the Dyneema should be slightly bigger than the diameter of the 1x19 SS wire that it’s replacing. And it should be heat set Dyneema.

It is not as chafe resistant as wire, so consider getting it covered if any lines or sails would be in contact with it or crossing it.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by cal40john

As bad as a mast coming down is, wouldn't this be worse? What gives first after the pelican striker goes? Wouldn't this cause the bows to flex in and cause major fiberglass damage in the hulls?

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

It really depends on the forebeam. But yes, in some cases it could cause quite a bit of damage.

It really depends on the design of the boat and whether the front beam is part of the structure, supporting the bows as well as the forestay. Some cats are like that. Whereas for others the hull structure does not depend on the beam and it is only for supporting the forestay.

We broke our seagull striker while on passage midway between NZ and Fiji a few years ago. We had a full jib and double reefed main at the time, beam reaching in big seas. The aluminium front beam started to visibly pump and the forestay definitely loosened, but the mast stayed rock solid. We completed that passage with both spinnaker halyards winched hard to either bow and only 10% of the jib unfurled, together with the main with one or two or three reefs depending on the breeze. The little bit of jib helped the balance. The hulls didn’t move as our front beam is not part of the structure. Once we got to Fiji we got a welder to put the seagull striker back together.