The 49er Skiff

tech corner
the 49er—harken hardware in control

Author Luca Modena lives in castelletto di Brenzone on Garda Lake, Italy. He took second in the 49er class at Italy's 2004 Olympic Trials and second at the 2000 Olympic Trials in the Star. Luca is a top sailor in many other one-design classes, including the Ufo 22 and Asso 99. He is already training for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. In the 49er—of course.

acrobatic
skiff

olympic class boat
The 49er is the most acrobatic and spectacular of the Olympic Class boats. It is the lightest, and has one of the biggest sail areas. The 49er can be a sailor's dream or nightmare: some despise it, some don't understand it, some can't tame it.

optimized systems
Luca raced his 49er ITA33 on lakes and oceans around the world trying to qualify for the Athen's Olympics. With his bowman Manual, he tested gear from many different manufacturers and found Harken hardware to be the best at handling the huge loads the 49er generates. Luca and Manual spent a lot of time optimizing the systems. The result is an exceptional mix of weight savings and reliability.

16mm Blocks for the Mast
The mast needs 3 blocks: For the gennaker halyard at the masthead, we chose a 16mm #417—perfect for the 4-5mm diameter tapered halyard we use on the 49er. Surprisingly, the 16mm is more free-running and reliable than blocks with bigger dimensions and can carry loads of 113 kg (250 lbs).

Two #404 16mm blocks are installed on the mast for the vang to control mast bend and the leech of the full-battened main (fundamental to tame and reduce the devastating power of the 49er). The gennaker halyard exit is at the maststep. Inside the spar, we use the 311 2" wire sheave with a SWL of 907 kg (2000 lbs)—very easy to mount compared to the standard fitting that comes with the boat. If you buy a 49er, this should be one of your first upgrades.

Boom Blocks Four blocks control and trim the huge mainsail: the #2625 57 mm Carbo Ratchamatic® mainsheet block (Picture 1) is smooth-rolling in light air and very strong in windy conditions. You can use 5mm line, but we prefer 6-8 mm line. Further aft there are three 29 mm fixed straphead Carbo singles (#348). The mainsheet deadends to one of the #348 strapheads (Picture 2).
Picture 1	Picture 2

the wings
A 57 mm Carbo Ratchamatic® (#2625) is mounted on each wing for spinnaker sheets. We cover the Ratchamatic® eyestrap with half a tennis ball (Picture 3). This way the bowman doesn't hit the eyestrap with his toes when he comes in from the trapeze.

Picture 3

Jib sheets
The jib sheet system features a simple 241 cam swivel base (Picture 4), two #233 Micro cheek blocks and a fixed #348 29 mm Carbo block (Picture 5). On the jib traveler, the small, powerful 224 Micro block is used to accurately trim the jib (Picture 6). This system proved a huge improvement because in 14 knots of breeze it was impossible to trim the jib properly using the standard hardware that came with the boat. Now the jib trims easily in any condition. We use a 6mm tapered sheet on a Micro #224. Cunningham and vang purchases use 16mm blocks: four 416 cheek blocks (Picture 7) and one 405 16 mm fixed single w/becket at the mastbase (Picture 7A).

Picture 4

Picture 6

Picture 5

Picture 7

Picture 7A

Gennaker
We used two lightweight 29 mm Carbo blocks (#349 ) with stand-up springs for the gennaker halyard and gennaker retriever (Picture 8). The best way to rig the gennaker system is to assemble two Ti-lite blocks head-to-head— a 29mm Carbo #351 and a 40mm Carbo #2651 (Picture 9). This makes a faster set, even when the bowsprit is set first. We think the bowsprit should be set after the gennaker. Otherwise the gennaker fills too early and the bowman can injure his back or take a dive into the water.

Picture 8

Picture 9

In conclusion we enjoyed working with Harken's technicians and products. Between Melbourne and Garda Lake, we sailed over 700 hours in 12 months. We used four boats, six masts, and four sets of sails—but just one set of Harken hardware which we moved easily from boat to boat. Our only maintenance on the blocks was to flush them with fresh water after we sailed. I hope these suggestions, together with Harken hardware, will make sailing your 49er easier and more exciting.

Links:
49er Class Website: http://www.49er.org/
Pete Spaulding 49er win