NORTH SAILS BLOG

FLYING FIFTEEN TUNING GUIDE FR-3/FR-5 MAINSAIL & NXG-3 JIB WIND SPEED (knots) 0 - 4 5 - 8 9 - 12 13 - 16 17 - 22+ Sea State Flat <---> Choppy Flat <---> Choppy All Sea States All Sea States All Sea States Mast Rake 24'11 (7595mm) 24'10 (7570mm) 24'10 (7570mm) 24'9 (7545mm) 24'8 (7520mm) Rig Tension 180 kg <---> 160 kg 160 kg <---> 140 kg 160 kg 160 kg 180 kg Kicker Tension Slack (set for downwind) Just snug Tension until 2nd tell tail on the leech stalls 10% of the time Increase tension bit by bit as the wind increases 30-50% Ram Pull fwd 30mm <---> Pull fwd 20mm Pull fwd 15mm <---> Pull fwd 10mm Neutral position Neutral position Ease fwd 5mm Outhaul Ease 10mm from max <---> Ease 20mm from max Ease 20mm from max Ease 10mm from max Max outhaul Max outhaul Cunningham None (see notes) None (see notes) None (see notes) Removing all wrinkles on the luff Increasing to max tension Jib Inhauling None (see notes) 50% <---> 25% 25-50% None None Jib Luff Tension Soft, slight wrinkles on luff Soft, slight wrinkles on luff Just removing wrinkles No wrinkles Firm Notes: Spreader Length: 420mm-430mm based on overall crew weight, heavy teams should use 430mm, lighter teams 420mm, (if under 23stone then reduce to 410mm) Spreader Angle: FR-3 mainsail use 175mm, for FR-5 mainsail use 185mm Ram: The Neutral position is set on the dock using 24'10 rake and 350lbs of rig tension, this should produce around 20-25mm of pre bend, Mark this position at deck, this is the zero point or Neutral. Move the ram from this position the amount in the guide. Cunningham: Our mainsails use a rubber luff rope which is slightly elasticated which helps to release tension when the cunningham is eased, it does mean it can create larger wrinkles off the luff so its best to lightly snug the cunningham in the lighter winds to remove the larger of these wrinkles without affecting sail shape. Jib Inhauling: With the newer higher aspect jibs there is the option to sheet the sail closer to the centreline, there are too many different sheeting setups to give a measurement figure but if you try using the max you think you could inhaul for a short spell, 30 seconds off a start line for example, this is 100% inhaul, use the % guide figure as a ball park to how much you can use in regular sailing in the longer term. I.e 8 kts in flat water would be the likely most effective inhauling condition using 50% of max. You need to ensure the boom is on or even slightly over the centreline to make this work as effectively as possible. READ MORE