tophatyachts.com

Hi all,

I have a question about my tophat rig. There is a wire and a halyard on front part of my mast (see pic), and I have no idea what they are used for. Wire is about meter short of deck, and they both attach just above spreaders. Previous owned told he thought it was a spinnaker halyard and storm sail rig but he never used either. I thought original top hat spinnakers are masthead rigged? So far all it does is banging and scratching the mast...

Any help identifying what this is used for and advising if I can safely remove it is appreciated =)



Cheers
=Serge

Hi Serge, could the steel wire possibly be a baby stay that's been set up so it's only attached to the deck when required under heavy weather? The halyard may be a spinnaker pole topping lift. It might help to discern what it is with a photo of the bottom of the mast and the foredeck.

Thanks Mike,

I'll make pictures of mast bottom and foredeck next time... Wire could be a baby stay, but it's way too short (ends ~1m above deck) and I don't see any attachment points on foredeck for it, but since I never used one maybe I'm looking in wrong direction.

And yeah, halyard could be a pole topping lift, thanks! I need to add a spinnaker halyard to practice with spinnakers, boat came with no halyard but two spinnakers -- symmetric and asymmetric.

Serge

I had that.

It's racing gear!!!

The wire up the mast is the topping lift for the 3 m spinnaker boom [I've got one but took it off]

You have the track on the mast for the spinnaker boom attachment, do you have them? things with circles on ends?

I fly the spinnaker "free" without the use of a boom [search posts as we have discussed this before]

You have two spinnakers -- symmetric and asymmetric, the asymmetric can be flown even easier that the spinnaker.

I rearranged things so that I carry my jib pole against the mast, its all I need as I don't race.

The wire does look like rigging wire, if its static it could be a baby stay as mentioned. Tensioned with a block & tackle from strong point on foredeck?? . The rope halyard is likely the topping lift for a spinnaker/whisker pole.