Mastering the rigging

Late last summer we bought an Eagle 525, a lovely pocket sailing cruiser, for our retirement. It was our first foray into keelboat ownership. We’re by no means inexperienced, having sailed on and off for over 50 years, but most of our sailing has been in dinghies – and simple dinghies at that – like the GP14.

Our biggest challenge with the Eagle 525 was understanding the rig – how to tune it for a good sailing performance while preventing it from toppling. I should rephrase that… ‘my biggest challenge’. My wife is firmly of the view that, as an engineer, masts and rigging are my responsibility.

Having bought our yacht late in the season our sailing trips were limited to about half a dozen outings; and then only in modest winds – nothing over Force 3-4.

We were cautious because of the uncertain age of the rigging; and although a pre-purchase survey had revealed no serious concerns we preferred to take things slowly.

We studied her sailing performance critically. There was scope for improvement, particularly on the wind. I noted that the leeward shrouds waved about lazily