Head Over Heels Mast & Rigging

Rob Squire, #96, Head Over Heels

The first photo shows Head over Heels' mast on its base with the boom. If you were thinking of shortening the boom, you might consider the aft boom sheeting as something that may be in the way back in the cockpit. I had Buzz route the fore triangle halyards to the port side of the mast and the main stuff to the starboard....except, the reef lines (2) are routed with one on port and the other on starboard. Port side rope clutches; two halyards, pole topping lift and the first reef......starboard side clutches; two main halyards (primary and the spare), main sheet and the second reef. The height of the boom above the deck is 37" from the mast base to the extended line of the base of the boom to the mast. I am 5'9" tall and I can stand in the cockpit and my eyes are just above the top of the dodger and the boom is well above my noggin.

Second photo is a shot of the Ballenger jumpers. In addition, I had Buzz rake the spreaders aft to accommodate the forward position of the mast and the standard position of the main shrouds.

A Little HOH Rigging History:

Head over Heels was raced heavily early on, class winner for several years, and the owners moved the mast forward six inches to accommodate weather helm issues. When I re-rigged, I set the new mast back on that position figuring those guys knew far more than I about making the boat go. A word of caution....the builders set a foot in diameter dollop of resin and filler underneath the original step position between the under deck and the liner. When the guys moved the mast forward, they moved the forward edge off of the support. The result was some deck cracking under the forward part of the step and mast damage at the heel of the mast.....I presume because all the weight and force from the mast was only on the aft couple of inches. I had to cut the deck area out and rebuild the support under the entire step. I beefed the entire new 1 foot diameter area with like 40 layers of cloth and epoxy to build up to deck level. When the whole mess cured, I jumped on it and it is like concrete....no worries now! Also, you can see in the shot up the mast, that the jumpers do not extend all the way down to the spreaders. Buzz engineered all of this. When I was working with Ballenger, he had just finished a Triton rig in Hawaii. The owners requested no jumpers, but all the other dimensions remained the same. He might be able to tell more of the why's and how's on the strength issues, but I know in Hawaii most folks sail around with at least one reef all of the time due to the trade wind strength.