All of us Nauticat owners find out very quickly, that our yachts are no racing sleds. They are darn comfortable cruising yachts but racing? Well, not so fast. Part of the problem is that we cannot point very high and that puts us at a definite disadvantage, while cruising or racing. Part of the problem has got to do with the forestay. If it is not drum tight, your pointing capabilities are even less. The so-so manual solution is to turn the backstay turnbuckles a few times. While this does improve things somewhat, you now must remember to turn them back, too. Plus, turning the turnbuckles is an unscientific way of accomplishing this important task. So, what to do?
During the past couple of years, I have read about hydraulic backstay adjusters being used on those, well, racing sleds. It all sounded very good and made a lot of sense. Then I forgot about this again until the next time, I saw this referenced in the sailing mags. Several weeks ago, I was talking to my rigger and asked him about hydraulic backstay adjusters. This turned into a lively conversation. No wonder. He stood to make some good money on such a deal... :-) ... But, what the heck, we must support the economy and so I agreed to his deal. Bremer Speck has split backstays. They are now equipped with hydraulic adjusters and, wow, what a difference. Pump, baby, pump! I keep them pressurized at about 1000 lbs and can safely go up to 3000 lbs and how easy it is to do. No sweat at all. You wanna race me?
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