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The shrouds on my boat have apparently stretched over the years and now I have no rig tension at all.  They appear to be 3.5mm wire (the measurement with a caliper is 3.48mm or .144in).  I have been trying to shorten them and although I have been able to get 3.5mm ferrules, I cannot find anyone who has a crimping tool that will do wire that big.  Everyone at our club seems to have the type which is two metal sections that are forced together by tightening bolts, and have circular holes in them for the ferrules & wire; these seem to only go up to 3mm.

The shrouds appear to have been designed never to come off - the top ends have a hard-eye inside the mast, around a bolt through the mast, but the hard eyes must have been put on after the wire was threaded through the mast probably before the top section of the mast was put on.  This means that it is impossible to get the shrouds off to take them anywhere, and replacing them will be very hard.
So I'm kind of stuck.  Do I hunt around for a 3.5mm crimping tool?  Is it possible to use anything else? or should I attempt to remove the old shrouds, get some 3mm wire and try to crimp them into the mast myself (will probably require removing the jib-halyard block and threading the shouds out of there before trying to hook the bolt through them...)

Before you start, however much I might like it, a new fancy mast is not an option...

Ahh - never new that was a class - knowledge updated! - anyway, the point still stands, and I bet she sails beautifully (for cruising)

Here is a clinker hull based on a N12 but with a Yawl rig and Lugsail main

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/sailing-dinghy-/221038782709?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Sailing_Boats_ET&hash=item3376f028f5

Hi, I am wanting to come wit my boat N2709, the only problem is lack of a tow bar.  We are based at Nottingham SC and have boat, road trailer and crew, but we unfortunately no longer have a car with a tow bar.  Is there any chance someone could give us a pull up the road?  This would be our first trip with a N12 and would be a shame to miss such a close event.

Mine arrived today.  Brilliant, thanks.

I hear that it is run by this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBM6AbkzArk

I assume that that is as measured with the mast ram off?

Hi all
I am needing to shorten the shouds and jib halyard on my Paper Dart as I currently have almost no tension in the rig (goes like the clappers in a F0 - F1, anything stronger, she just heals in gusts without going forwards...).  The boat has on/off shoud levers but no other fine adjustment to use when afloat.  In order to measure the lengths we need the shrouds and halyard to be shortened by (probably more than 1.5 inches each) I would like some advice on "standard" settings.
In zero - very light winds I sail with mast ram on and shroud tension off both sides, both upwind and downwind.  Is this bad practise?
In light winds I sail with maximum jib halyard tension and mast ram to try and get as little rake as possible (that is, mast as upright as possible).  How upright is the most upright that should be used?  Hanging a weight off the main halyard at the moment means it hangs 6-8 inches back from the goose-neck.  Should I be aiming to get the halyard to touch the mast as my light-wind, zero-rake setting or hanging a few inches back?  Is this measured with or without mast-ram on or sail up?
On a related question, does the spirit-level-on-centreboard-casing method for leveling the boat work, or do we need to measure this while afloat?

Thanks for any advice you can give

Ahh yes, sorry, I replaced the last block on the blue cascades (where the red rope is tied in the pic) with an old-style laser kicker cleat.  This allows the tied end of the red rope to be fed back to the mast where it is tied off creating the 16:1.  I have found that with a long end to pull I can use the kicker positioned there (I sail on a river, and the cleats for a helm don't currently work...)

I am currently using this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280756974083 (Holt Allen Laser Stratos Kicker System £25.00)
I haven't got the system perfect yet, but it comes with enough bits to make up to a 16:1 kicker and is cheap especially for the blocks...

We do need to consider the "long" series case (Gill?) where we declare that  X races (events) count. Here it is unfair (IMHO) to count more than X events since people may well chose not to enter more than X events.

For this, surely the best system is the complete ISAF "method".  If there is a tie on points, then do count back of the races not discarded
e.g. 1,2,2,5,(dnc),(dnc),(dnc) beats 1,2,3,4,(7),(9),(dnc). (N.B. the actual results would be in a different order)

therefore not dissadvantaging boats who can only make a few too much, but those boats that can get to lots of events have lots of opportunities to better their score.
If it is still a tie, then it would go down to the result of the final race - making the finale more important for those in a close battle for a position and making the whole final race more of an exciting event

My club (Nottingham SC) does use an altered system (number of 1st positions, then if still tied position in last race raced together) but only for 1st place ties, all other tied places are left as ties.  I don't know why.  Clubs/regattas can alter the system as they like in their own S.I.s

Assumming that they were using the standard ISAF rules (2009-2012) Appendix A scoring system
A8.1

If there is a series-score tie between two or more boats, each boat’s race scores shall be listed in order of best to worst, and at the first point(s) where there is a difference the tie shall be broken in favour of the boat(s) with the best score(s). No excluded scores shall be used.
This is why boat B wins.
If this is still a tie (e.g. both boats have a 1st and a 2nd) then you use A8.2
If a tie remains between two or more boats, they shall be ranked in order of their scores in the last race. Any remaining ties shall be broken by using the tied boats’ scores in the next-to-last race and so on until all ties are broken. These scores shall be used even if some of them are excluded scores.

This system makes it well worth fighting every race for that one better position and rewards people who win races (it may disadvantage people who are consistently 3rd in every race, but they didn't win any race, so should they be given 1st prize?).
It is well known in regattas for people who cannot be beaten going into the last race to pack up early and watch the final race from the comfort of the clubhouse.  In my opinion, good on them as they must have deserved it.
These are the rules that add the quirks that are unique to sailing events - for example when Ben Ainsley (I think) went into the last race at an Olympics only needing a certain other boat to come worse than 22 and spent the whole race getting in his way - they came 22 & 23 and Ben won Gold.

Edit : Having read the next reply, do you not use the standard scoring method at opens (I haven't been to a N12 open yet)?

I have two boats at the moment, a Laser (centre-sheeted) and a N12 (transom-sheeted).  I usually end up turning aftwards in the Laser, and forwards in the N12, the result of which is getting the mainsheet wrapped around my legs.  This has lead to a couple of capsizes in the Laser, and several times ending up on my backside in the bottom of the N12 with my legs sticking up in the air (to the amusement of my crew)

Hi all

I have recently bought a Paper Dart (2709) with which the previous owner had been using a set of newer sails from a different N12.

How do I tell if the old sail is worn out beyond usefulness?  I hope to compete at some local opens meetings, not necessarily win the nationals (yet).

Also the newer main sail is loose-footed, where as the original main runs along the boom.  Having most recently been sailing a Laser, I am somewhat more accustomed to loose-footed mains, but I have found, due to my N12's square (older Enterprise style) boom, we have to pull the foot down behind the boom every time we tack.  Is there a difference in performance between loose-footed and fixed-footed mains?

N.B. using the newer main will require the bands on the mast to be re-measured and we appear to have to apply downhaul (Cunningham) to remove a sag in the lower luff of the sail in light winds, which is why I am considering using the older sails at the moment.

Thank you for any information / advice


Jon Twite