Rick,

I give up with you.  I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.  I only hope the rest of the Rhodes List doesn’t buy into your nonsense and not avail themselves of this fundamental means of tuning the rig.  Please don’t argue with me anymore, I’m tired of it, and I won’t respond.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 22, 2022, at 1:50 PM, Rick Lange <sloopblueheron at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Roger,
> 
> Again, you have it backwards.  The forestay length is taken with the mast
> free standing and prevented from falling by the 4 lower stays and shrouds.
> Putting undue stress on the step with a too-short forestay buys nothing but
> maintenance headache.
> 
> That the mast does not pivot when rigged should be evident to you when you
> lower it because you have to give it a good shove to get it started.  That
> shove slides the aft edge of the foot forward on the step plate, raising
> the turning bolt in its vertical slot.
> 
> As often discussed on this list, sometimes the mast step plate tears loose
> and no pivot occurs.  Pulling on the screws attaching the step by an overly
> tight forestay contributes to this problem by opening space for water to
> run down the screws and rot the wooden mast step base.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Rick Lange
> 
> 
>> On Mon, Mar 21, 2022 at 5:33 PM ROGER PIHLAJA <roger_pihlaja at msn.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Rick,
>> 
>> With respect sir, you apparently know how your boat works.
>> 
>> If you change the length of the forestay, do you honestly think the rake
>> angle of the mast isn’t going to change?  Of course the mast pivots on the
>> mast step.  You pivot the mast on the mast step thru 90 degrees every time
>> you step or unstep the mast.  Once the mast is up there, do you think it’s
>> rigidly protruding from the mast step?  Once you have established the mast
>> rake angle with the length of the forestay, you tune the rest of the
>> standing rigging to work with that mast rake angle.  The mast rake angle is
>> the first basic tuning parameter you set when tuning the standing rigging.
>> 
>> Go and take a good close look at your setup and think about how it has to
>> work.
>> 
>> Roger Pihlaja
>> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>>