In the early eighties, the first kind of exotic fibre – Kevlar²  core double braid - started to be used in running rigging, on the Australian 12 meter Kookaburra. In experiments by the Aussie rigger Peter Gardneron fractional rigged I.O.R. boats, we often used to file off the grip of the runner winches with water sandpaper, otherwise the runner tails would last only one race! Good business for riggers, but a disaster for the reliability of the boat, and for the owners’ wallets!

This do it yourself method was indeed a risky business since if you took too much off the grip you would risk being unable to grind the runner on quickly enough, so we also started to add an additional cover on the spot where the runner lines were supposed to be fully wrapped on the winch drum at the highest load.

However, this was only a patch, a sort of sign of good will by the rigging folk; wishful thinking, since the additional cover made the line stiffer and bulkier and thus less handy to use. Also, an additional cover raised the problem of overcoming the nasty issue of having a step where this sleeve begins and ends up. If you finely stitch both these points you will still have a noticeable step which is not ideal on blocks and self tailing arms. The best method to overcome this is burying a tapered tail of the sleeve into the line. A job which can be done only by a skilled rigger with a high fee labour involved.

Also, despite what might be thought, covers made with a very tight pattern construction are not always stronger in abrasion resistance than the ones made with a wider texture of yarns. Then came Yale with a breakthrough innovation.³  The rope specifically made for runner tails was Yale Tail and the innovation was a blend cover woven with a W shape featuring Kevlar and polyester. Finally, somebody thought to innovate the cover as well and not being limited to only progressing the performance of the core with exotic fibres. Despite Kevlar being prone to UV degradation and decay, it proved to withstand the attack due to the grip of the winch combined with the easing of the line in high speed at the highest load.  A true step ahead.  On fractional rigged boats easing of the runner tail also leads to a very important factor which is the fore and aft shacking of the rig, which is obviously  a disturbing influence.

The only backlash to the Yale Tail was the higher price, but, as ever, you get what you pay for.

Part 3 coming soon!

Danilo

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¹ Please see further  instructions on www.americangroup.com, the Samson website.
²  Kevlar is a registered trademark of Du Pont of Nemours.
³  Please see www.yalecordage.com , the Yale website for further indications.

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