SparTalk - Vectran for Service

Some friends of mine are getting ready to race to Hawaii again, and I thought I'd post an idea I had to protect their halyards from chafe. Here's a little info and history to set this up.

Boat = 53' LOA, 31,000 lbs. disp., 65' carbon fiber mast flying assymetrical kites from a retractable sprit. (J/160, if you're interested) Spinnaker halyards are Spectra/Dyneema cored with tapered polyester coveres. Core diameter is 10-11mm.

During the Vic-Maui race two years ago, I spliced and seized a length of cover (Samson ICE) onto the shackle ends of the halyards, as sacrificial chafe protection. After three days and nights of heavy reaching, I received an e-mail from the boat stating that the cover had begun tear apart. I suspect that I was unable to get the cover milked down to the core snug enough to keep slippage from occuring, and that may have led to its demise. The crew remedied the situation by wrapping the affected parts with UHMW and Teflon tape. Upon return here to the PNW, the halyard throats and eyes were in good shape. Before the race, the sheaves and exit box were cleaned and any burrs were carefullly polished away.

My attempt at a solution this time, would be to serve the halyard ends with small diameter (1/16" or 1/8") vectran single braid, and then to "slush" the service with something the like of MaxiJacket. Sort of a modern day/materials service. The whole reason for this crazy idea is to attempt to bulletproof the halyards for days and nights of intense reaching (flying assymetrics, you know) to try to avoid failure. The crew will carry the requisite messenger and length of bicycle chain to string a new halyard, but the idea of doing that in Pacific swells is not too appealing. I suppose the ultimate solution would be to mount an external stand up block at the masthead, but this being carbon fiber, how to properly attach the block is out of my expertise. I suspect the reason for the chafe last time, was due to a combination of high loads, and a halyard exit angle that may not be sitting fully in the sheave during reaching conditions, but I'm just guessing. Halyard chafe has not been a problem during local racing or coastal cruising. Racers tend to push a bit, 'ya know.

Any and all comments and criticism are welcome. Sorry for such a long post. Thanks,

Aaron