Broken masts

[Guest]

Help! I have now broken my second mast on my Spindrift Daysailer. In both cases, the wind was brisk (I don't have a clue as to the speed), but in the most recent disaster, with my new standard Daysailer mast from Dwyer, I have certainly sailed the boat in stronger winds. I have several questions:

I have just read the article in this group on shroud tension. I believe my shrouds were looser than described there. Is this a possible cause of my trouble? It seems like the leeward shroud and the spread keep the mast from bending too much laterally. Is this correct? If so, why is it ok to have the leeward shroud go slack at all?

If the windward shroud came out of the spreader (which may have happened), would this quickly cause the mast to fail? If so, how tightly must I secure the seizing wire to the shrouds?

My sails don't have reef points. Perhaps I just don't know the limitations of the boat. At what wind speed should I be reefing?



Al Haeger (alh-at-megsinet.net)

[Guest]

I doubt it was just so much wind that your mast just couldn't handle it. You didn't say what the wind speeds were on those days, but I own an '84 Spindrift DS1 and I've had my boat out in high wind conditions on numerous occasions and haven't had a problem (yet). I nearly got knocked over last Spring on a particularly gusty 20-25 knot day and even took on some water, but the mast and rigging held up fine. In fact, that day, we even surprised the local windsurfers who'd never seen a monohull boat on plane going close to 20 MPH... Ya hoo!!! Bottom line, Day Sailors can handle quite a lot of wind if you know what you're doing.

I suspect the problem IS in your standing rigging, and I do think a shroud slipping from a spreader could cause mast failure. That situation would create some sudden slack and and allow the mast to slam when the rigging went tight again. If the chainplate or shroud line didn't give, it's quite possible that the mast would.

BTW, where did the mast fail? At the base? Above the spreader?

Kevin Clark
Dallas, TX
DS 11791

Kevin Clark (clarkr-at-aud.alcatel.com)