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RIGGINGstretch resistance and strength-toweightratio over the other, it wouldseem as if the EC6 product does havean advantage when it comes towindage. The carbon yarns areextremely strong, meaning that fewerindividual yarns can be bundledtogether to make a single piece of rigging,resulting in an overall smallerdiameter for the rigging. On a racingyacht where there are a dozen ormore pieces of standing rigging holdingup the mast, the accumulatedbenefit over a long passage makes abig difference. The drawback, however,is the prohibitive cost of carbon.Precisely engineeredOne of the great benefits of soft riggingis the ability to precisely engineera product that meets a variety ofdifferent requirements. The engineercan consider not only the perfectblend of yarns, but also the budget ofthe person buying the rigging. It maybe that for some applications anextreme, cutting edge product is notnecessary. The requirements may bemore modest and less expensive loadbearing threads that can be usedalong with a basic polyester coverrather than Spectra or Technora. Theresult is still a light, low-stretch pieceof rigging. Someone looking to trickout their sailboat with higher technologythan wire is not saddled withcarbon as their only option.Where heavy old fashioned turnbuckleswere used to attach wire riggingto the deck and to allow forsome adjustability, new sleek, lowwindage turnbuckles are being usedfor the soft rigging. Add to that thearchaic steel shackle is no longer seenaboard a high-performance yacht.Instead the riggers have gone evenfurther back in time for a solution.Soft rigging is usually tied togetherwith a lightweight lashing, a means ofattachment that was used on old clipperships. The result, however, is acheap, extremely reliable and superlightweight means of accomplishingthe same thing.Just as roller furling needed to gothrough a few years of intense testingin some rough sailing environmentsbefore the equipment was deemedsuitable for the rest of us to use withfull confidence, soft rigging will alsoneed to prove itself. Indeed it hasalready proven itself in some of themost extreme environments. TheOpen 60 Paprec-Virbac had EC6 forstanding rigging for the gruellingBarcelona World Race, a doublehandedsprint around the planet; nonstop. The rigging was returned to themanufacturer for a complete testonce the race was over and the resultswere remarkable. With the exceptionof a cut in the cover of one of theshrouds the rigging was in great condition.There was no discernabledegradation in either the strength ofthe rigging or in its stretch resistance.To illustrate the performance gainsby using the EC6 system, considerthat the carbon rigging is a quarter ofthe weight of an equivalent strengthrod rigging. Consider that theBarcelona World Race is 29,000miles long and physical weight savingscoupled with most of thatweight being over 50 feet off the deckalong with the significantly reducedwindage and you start to see a costperformance benefit that knows noequal. The same can be said ofNavtec’s PBO rigging as numerousboats competing in the last VendéeGlobe used the latest custom engineeringfrom Navtec without failure.If anything is keeping sailors fromupgrading to high-tech soft rigging,it’s the cost, not reliability.■Courtesy NavtecA Z-system turnbuckle by Navtec usesan assembly of PBO fibers specificallyengineered for that application.Brian Hancock has recorded 250,000offhsore miles. His most recent book isGrabbing the World.38 OCEAN NAVIGATOR SEPTEMBER 2010www.oceannavigator.com