presented in North America by
	JDE Marine

JDE's Laser Rigging

Here's some photos of how I rigged my boat for the Masters Worlds in Brazil in 2006.  Everything worked perfectly except for the guy holding the tiller extension.

Two single sheaved blocks tied tight under the boom by a piece of thin spectra.  Three different colours for the control lines.  The vang has one purchase taken out of it so its a 3 x 4 (12:1) rather than the stock 3 x 5 (15:1).  All the purchases are up by the mast by design to reduce windage.  Outhaul is 3:1 at this end.   The combined water bottle (actually lemon flavoured gatorade) and compass holder is just a piece of 1/4 " plywood.  The compass is removed from the manufacturers plastic surround and actually taped into the upturned top of a peanut butter jar. Again to save weight and windage.   Also note the plastic bag stuck to the deck with the results so far of the other leaders.  Its actually a self adhesive FedEx waybill envelope.  FedEx kindly has them available at many locations around North America.  Either side of the centreboard case is the top part of a Ziploc plastic bag with a slider closer duct taped to the deck.  This is marked up with compass bearings and the slider is moved to recall previous compass bearings.  Its a lash up but works well.   I was starting to get serious about my sailing by the end of the week.  There is a piece of elastic stretched across between the compass and bottle holder to keep the control lines down so they don't flick over the bottle or compass when they are slack.

The outhaul arrangement.  Thinnest spectra to reduce weight and windage.  A quick release shackle holding the pulley to the sail clew, and, of course a Rooster clew strap.  This is one of the original ones with the sliding surface being blue spinnaker sailcloth.  It still works fine, but Steve has changed the material on newer ones.  The elastic "inhaul" goes through the clew to avoid any eccentric loading on the strap.  The arrangement is bulletproof - as long as the knot on fairlead is done properly.  Stand by for an improved version of this set up for sale with pre-cut lengths and no knots needed later this year.

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Here's the inboard end of the inhaul.  The rope tail is whipped onto the two ends of the elastic.   You may as well use the cleat for something.

Back end of the hiking strap.   The tail of the Rooster mainsheet is passed through the hiking strap look with a simple overhand stopper knot.  Location for the second Rooster drinking bottle worked sort of OK, but would be better higher up as gets in the way of your foot when kicking water out of the cockpit.  The hiking strap is tied off with thin spectra.  No adjustment is needed if you are 6'0" tall and hike from the toes.  The strap is TIGHT at all times.  The bung was removed all week for the high wind sailing.    Hydration was important at Fortaleza.  Lots to drink at all times, NO booze or coffee the night before races.   I never felt knackered all week and could have done a third race if necessary. 

Another view of the front end.  The cunningham is set up so the clew can be pulled down lower than the top of the boom if required -- and it was required at Fortaleza!.  On the 30 knot days it was all control lines "full gas on"  -- vang, outhaul, and cunningham - without even a concern about flow in the bottom part the sail - just crank it out and down hard.

Note the yellow tape markers on the outhaul on the vang.  This allows quick adjustments to known settings.   Very valuable when heading off downwind in 30+ knots.   When the outhaul was out as far as it could go, the inboard blocks would be almost touching.