Inspection of running rigging

A swivel block reduces wear on this roller furling line
A swivel block reduces wear on this roller furling line
A swivel block reduces wear on this roller furling line

Planning an offshore passage entails seemingly endless details, but on a sailing vessel, a vitally important component is the type of running rigging, both rope and wire, we install to keep our vessels under sail and on target for our next anchorage.

Standing rigging, which is the wire structure holding up the mast(s) and perhaps a bowsprit and boomkin, are a different matter, requiring a separate set of installation and maintenance protocols, so we’ll set that aside for future discussion. 

Our running rigging, the rope and perhaps wire we use to control the sails, faces constant stretch and exposure to fraying and snagging during the course of an ocean crossing. Therefore, we need to select the best rope and wire available, lest we end up having to splice together broken line with simple knots or search for odd lengths of double-braided cordage from the junk box in the aft lazarette.

Halyards
Halyards, the lines we employ to hoist the mainsail, jib, mizzen and other sails, are typically, yet not necessarily, installed as a combination of yacht braid and 7×7 stainless wire rope that are spliced together by having the wire run up through the middle of the braid several feet for a solid connection. These combo halyards, spliced by professional riggers, are available ready-made online or at your local West Marine or chandlery.

One of the advantages of having combination halyards raising your main and jib is saving weight and space at the masthead with lighter, narrower sheaves. If this is how your mast was designed, you need to install combination wire/rope halyards to ensure proper fit and easy movement through the masthead’s sheaves. External blocks added to the masthead obviously can handle pure polyester halyards. 

The main downside of having stainless steel wire rope passing through sheaves and staying in one place under a great deal of stretch is the eventual breaking of thin wires in the rope yarns. The most common place for breakage is in the eye splice, which connects to the sail head. If these tiny breaks continue unchecked, they can eventually result in a doused sail with the whole length of wire lying on the foredeck.

One or two broken wires in an eye splice is no reason for alarm; if the rest of the wire yarns are intact, you should have no immediate concern for possible failure. However, the broken wires do indicate the need to cut back the wire and reinstall a new splice with the same or new thimble while at anchor. Normally, the thimble can be reused, but a bit of opening and reshaping with hand tools may be necessary.

Keep a store of various sizes of thimbles for stainless wire rope.
Keep a store of various sizes of thimbles for stainless wire rope.

To form a new eye splice, ideally, you should have a new replacement thimble of the correct size for the wire, a large pair of wire cutters and a swaging tool. By the way, always remember to keep a small handful of thimbles, like those from U.S. Rigging, in your rigging kit for each size of wire rope installed on your vessel.

The obvious first step is to cut off the old swaged thimble with a pair of wire cutters. And you can forget about using the wire cutters in your tool box. Those are most probably intended for cutting soft copper wire, not high-tensile stainless steel cable. Although there are any number of cutting tools on the market ostensibly intended for cutting rigging wire, you will thank yourself many times over for buying a pair of Swiss-made, Felco professional wire cutters. I have used this tool countless times over the years, and with the occasional dab of grease on the hardened carbon steel blades, they will easily outlast me. 

Attempting to hold the eye thimble in place with the wire pulled tightly for proper placement while operating the swage tool with both hands is, well, not fun. Better to find a helpful pair of hands or some other way to keep the wire stable while compressing the thimble with the swage tool. I have found the small, pocket-size Swage It tool handy over the years, but it has taken some practice.

For a much easier job of swaging, try using the Professional Swaging Tool from Loos & Company or the Suncor Hand Swager & Cutting Tool. Both have long handles for easy leverage, and they allow you to hold the wire and swage steady with one hand while you push down on a handle of the swager against a flat surface with the other hand.   

Spinnaker and drifter halyards, which are not used nearly as frequently as main, mizzen, jib and staysail halyards, are generally made of polyester line, not stainless-steel wire. Typically, you can expect their wear to be minimal unless you use them for extended periods of time on long, downwind passages. Even so, you probably douse such sails at night and use the genoa in their place.

The Jordan Series Drogue creates drag over a long distance, keeping the vessel on a downwind course in a gale.
The Jordan Series Drogue creates drag over a long distance, keeping the vessel on a downwind course in a gale.

Main Sheet
The main sheet, because of its location either in or near the helm, is easy to inspect at any moment while underway or at anchor. This polyester double-braided line takes its share of abuse but not the shaking and rattling often experienced by a jib sheet. Held in place by two double or triple blocks and a cam cleat on a block and traveler, the line is relatively stationary. If there are signs of wear in the sheet, they should be obvious to anyone sitting in the cockpit.

An old trick for extending the life of a main sheet, or any sheet for that matter, while far from the nearest reputable chandler, is to reinstall it in the opposite direction. While that doesn’t fix the line itself, placing unworn braided line in the place of worn line will certainly add more life to the sheet. 

Also, inspect the line going through the boom brake if you use one. The chances of line failure as it passes through the device are slim to nil, but a quick look at the fibers moving through the device will give you peace of mind. To keep your main sheet moving freely through the brake, the Wichard Gyb’Easy Boom Brake is the choice of many offshore sailors looking for smooth handling of their main sheets in all kinds of weather.

Yet another point to inspect is the boom vang, if your boat has one separate from the main sheet. The vang consists of a fiddle block and a block with a spring-loaded cam, much like the main sheet block on the traveler. Inspect the main sheet along its entire length, especially where it passes through its blocks, to ensure top performance on your next passage.   

Jib Sheet
More than likely, the jib sheet will be of a type of double-braided line similar to that of the main sheet. The difference of the application, of course, is the amount of shaking and rough handling likely to be endured by the jib sheet.

While the jib is fully deployed, inspect each sheet as well as possible. Walking back along the side decks, check each sheet closely at points where it passes through fairleads and turning blocks. Pull the line far enough through stainless, aluminum or composite sheaves to inspect for fraying. In the same manner as with the main sheet, if you spot signs of wear at one or more of these points, it is best to detach the sheets from the jib clew and reverse them for prolonged life.

Roller furler
Assuming your vessel has roller furling to adjust and store the jib, you will need to inspect the reefing line from its connection point on the spool at the bow all the way back through its path to the deck winches. 

While at anchor, unfurl the jib and carefully inspect the connection of the reefing line at the spool. Do you see any fraying on the line at the point where it passes through the spool? If so, pull the reefing line down from inside the spool, cut back the line a few inches and reconnect the line to the spool.

Also, shake the spool to ensure the bearings are still fitting snugly. A loose, wobbly spool indicates the need for new polymer bearings. The spool will no doubt continue to function for some time, but the bearings obviously will need to be changed as soon as can be managed. This little inspection every few months will give you that extra measure of confidence you need to have in your furler system.

Knowing how to inspect your vessel’s running rigging is central to the success of your offshore voyages. As you learn more about your rigging, consider looking into such options as Dyneema rope, composite sheave blocks and other alternatives to traditional sailing gear. Our goal is to sail as far and as long as we can with the best performance possible.