Sport Today

2006 7.5 Infinity.

Is there such a thing as too much tack strap tension?

If so, what would I look for in terms of evidence of same?

What about too little?  What observable behavior would that cause?
--
PeteCresswell

I have run mine fully agfainst my skinny mast with no ill effects. The
tack strap lowers the draft and moves it forward just a little. Too
little and you may notice that the sail feels more top heavy but the
difference may be negligible. Still, I keep mine very tight.

Glenn

Hello Pete,
I posed a similar question to David Ezzy a long time ago and his
response - which he added "dont' be alarmed" - was to make the bottom
ugly by pulling it tight.  He said you could wrinkle the bottom and
this will lock the power in.  There is the possibility of making it too
tight but when he meant ugly, he did not mean really distorted, only
cupped.
Some things explained were a slight tensioining of the leach from the
clew grommet up to the next batten and the obvious cupping of the foot
of the sail.  Too little tension will allow the foot twist off.
I try to make a nice, uniform profile when I apply the tack tension
and, to paraphrase Frank Zappa, add " a little ugly on the side".
                                                       Marc

Per marc rosen:

Did he say anything about recognizing when it was really distorted?

The ugly factor is what raised the question for me.  

--
PeteCresswell

There is some info on the proper tension of the tack strap in the rigging
video on the Ezzy web site   www.ezzy.com