Rig and Rigging

Aventura III is rigged as a cutter. The versatility and ease of handling of the combination of a high-cut yankee and staysail, both on furling gears, has proved an excellent choice under all the sailing conditions that we met during these last nine years. As a 130% genoa had been included in the original sail wardrobe, this was kept it as a spare, but once, when the yankee was replaced with the genoa, it only took a couple of days to realize just how much more efficient the yankee/staysail combination performed than the large overlapping genoa. So the genoa was taken down, packed up and sent into permanent retirement.

The standard OVNI 43 has a single backstay split at the lower end so it clears the cockpit. Obsessed as I am with having backups for everything, I asked the builder to fit two separate backstays, one of which is used as an SSB antenna. Both backstays are provided with tensioners and while I rarely tune the mast, I always release the tension when stopping anywhere for more than a day. The tensioners also come in handy when the boat has to be hauled out by travelift as it takes no time to support the mast with the runners and remove the backstays by unscrewing the tensioners completely.

Aventura’s rigging was substantially upgraded. Being a cutter, the designer decided against backswept spreaders and in favour of running backstays.  The runners have to be set up whenever I use the staysail, except in very light winds. Setting up the runners can be a bore especially when short-tacking but I have got used to it. The entire rigging was replaced in 2004 after Aventura had sailed 50,000 miles.