Winter Work 2

Stargazer sailed, for most of the 2025 season, with an improvised dyneema backstay. Plus its redundant predecessor, which I was loath to cut away, loosely lashed to the pushpit beside it.’Just in case.’

Stargazer's sails and spars are supported by stays and halyards made from stainless steel wire rope. Eyes are formed, in their ends, by means of crimped copper ferrules. 

These can create a point of failure, if an oblique load is applied. Acting as an anvil, which cuts the strands of the wire rope.

On the first day of the Zen Again cruise, Stargazer's rousing beat out to the North Foreland was abruptly cutailed.

When her jib tumbled to the deck, due to halyard failure. The new jib was slightly longer, in the luff, than its predecessor. Which caused an oblique pull, at the furrule, on the (also new) halyard.

With Stargazer's weather window closing fast, Alan and Sarah (aka Wilkinson Sails) pulled out all the stops. Replacing the halyard and modifying the sail, in time for us to catch our tide.

However, sobered by the jib halyard failure, Stargazer's skipper sailed south with a closer eye than usual upon her rig. And noticed that the backstay tensioner had an eye, with an obliquely loaded ferrule, where it entered its turning block.

Whilst waiting for wind, in Le Havre, a plan is hatched for a DIY solution to Stargazer's latent backstay problem. Prevention is better than cure, where the security of the rig is concerned.

A (longer) temporary backstay tensioner is fashioned from dyneema. A fibre both stronger and lighter than wire rope. But less resistant to chafe and ultraviolet degradation. 

This temporary fix sees Stargazer through the season. Albeit with signs of chafe evident, by the time we return to Chatham. Caused by the soft dyneema running on a sheave which has been roughened by abrasive wire rope. 

A November visit, to Wilkinson Sails' Faversham Creek loft, secures Stargazer a replacement backstay tensioner. It is made from wire rope and the same length as the DIY dyneema stopgap. To keep the copper ferrule well clear of the turning block.