Regarding Equipment upgrades:
If the cunningham can be rigged 8:1 and used
to pull the eye down to the gooseneck,
the stresses induced are the same as
if you used a a nice set of Harket
blocks, or other now illegal means.
If the stresses are the same, the over stressing
argument seems rather moot.
After sailing lasers religiously between 1977 and about
1985, I only used the purchase the original vang gave me.
After returning to the class and finding a new way to
rig the vang for much more purchase, I actually began
doing better because I could more easily reshape the
main, where before, I never bothered because it
was too much of a hassle.
My vote is for new equipment,
because it won't change the stresses already placed
because we have found ways around it, but it will make
it one less item to think about and to spend time figuring
out a better way.
tom lincoln
