This section will be for setting a standard on how to properly rig your spars and tie on the sail. 

 

First and foremost, making sure your sail ties are even is key- This will keep you from destroying a sail after a short period of use and NEVER just fold the boom up on the mast with the sail attached to both. You will for sure destroy the sail!

 

When rigging, set your spars on the ground (preferably a grassy area or if not make sure you have something to cover the area with to prevent nicking or dinging the spars) with the boom attached to the mast with the mast running perpendicular to the wind direction.  Then lay the sail out as you normally would.

From here that are several thoughts on this but these are mine and this by no means makes any of the others wrong-

So, what knot do I use?

Well, Ive always used a square knot with a safety (overhand knot to keep them from creeping) on the tails which is by far the most common way. This is one of those things that are a coach’s preference.

Setting the head and Diagonal ties and Tack corner ties:

Make a small bend in the line and put through the 2 holes at the top of the mast. The top hole is for your actual head tie and the bottom hole if for the diagonal (height adjuster). With the height of the luff measurement band in the middle of the Mast measurement bad. This insures proper height of the sail. Set your tack corner tie first then move on to the Diagonal and head tie.

Luff ties:

You can either use the 3,2,1,1,1,1,2,3 method (mm off the mast) or what I like doing is keeping the measurements even with each other. So, like keeping all mast ties(luff ties) at a 1mm spacing from tack to head. This will ensure that the loads on the grommets are basically even and you will not self-destruct the sail which is 99% of the cause of grommets coming out of the luff.  

 

Once the luff is set now you can move to tying on the foot.

With the boom on the mast, now tie the foot ties semi loose. Meaning that you don’t really need a ton of tension on these but just enough to keep the sail on the boom. Keep your outhaul slightly snug so you can work but with some scallops or wrinkles. Once you finish the foot step back and inspect your work and make sure for the most part that everything is even. Now step the mast and put your sprit pole on. Now you will give the outhaul some tension meaning set for like 10 kts of breeze, set your sprit halyard now for the same, set the vang and if everything looks smooth, now you have completed the rigging.

Remember that sprit halyard, out haul and vang tension are vital adjustments for the performance of the boat and do change quite frequently depending on wind velocity.

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