S2 7.9 Meter Class Association

Are backstay kickers going to be allowed for the St. Pete NOODs?
Who sells them?

Chris Craig #514

Hey Chris
No backstay kickers allowed yet.
The newsletter (with the ballot on rules changes) is going out this week. But the results will not be available in time for the St. Petes.
Kickers are a home-build item. Most people use a piece of sturdy batten material.

What does a backstay kicker look like, and how does it work? I had envisioned a very stout metal arm extending aft of the very top of the mast, to which one would attach the top end of the back stay. That cannot be right, however, if most people are using batten material.

Backstay kickers are generally an extremely stiff batten fixed to the top of the mast, pointed toward the rear of the boat. A block or metal ring is attached to the end of the batten and the backstay is threaded through that block / ring / eye.

The purpose of the kicker is to hold the backstay away from the rear of the mainsail during tacks to allow the excess roach that all 7.9's carry to fall through the backstay triangle without hooking / wearing on the backstay itself.

Chris, Check out the Melges 24 back stay kickers at St. Pete Nood. The 7.9's should work the same. You use a tapered batten with a ring in aft end to run the stay through. It's very simple and you may already have a batten. I'll be in St. Pete on 538 look me up.
Brad Boston

It would be useful if someone could post a photo, drawing and/or specs for the backstay kickers if the rule is adopted. When I switched to two full battens, the big roach has been a real pain in light air.

How long, thick and wide is the batten material? How is it afixed to the top of the mast? If I don't have any extremely stiff batten material, and I don't, is there some handy, cheap source? I would very much like to do this, but need some guidance.

Here is a picture of a melges sailing upwind. You can clearly see the kicker.

http://www.northsails.co.uk/gallery/sorc/ger-up.jpg

As for how to attach it, that's probably going to be up to you. 2 bolts or 2 screws through the extension off the rear of the mast that go through holes drilled in the batton will probably be the easiest.

You could always get fancy and weld some type of slot etc on top of the mast.

I'm going to have to spend some time staring at the end of my mast to figure out the lightest way to attach it.

Head over to any reputable sailmaker and I'm sure they'll be able to tell you what the melges use. The same thing will work for the 7.9

Something to consider when looking at the kicker pic...

The Melges 24's have a synthetic backstay and a cascade/block & tackle purchase. When they let off the backstay this allows enough slack in the line to allow the flicker to lift the backstay off the roach while still providing purchase when the backstay is needed.

Has anyone used the flicker with a pinch adjuster and a wire backstay??? I would think the batten would need to be pretty stiff and the amount of slack in the backstay would make adjustments possible only at the bottom of the 'V". If the wind came up, you wouldn't have enough purchase.

what about a spectra backstay ?

That was my experience fooling around with a kicker two seasons ago. An 1 1/2" sail batten was no way near stiff enough. Probably need a very long piece of springy steel; I'm not sure it's worth it.

Unless I'm reading the class rules wrong, the backstay can only be 1x19 5/32 SS wire.

Fleck is reading the rules correctly. Nothing but 1x19 5/32 wire.

Tom,

The 1x19 was clearly in the rules, but I had to find the link to the owners manual ( http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/7292/79man7.jpg ) to get the size. Maybe this should be included in the class rules.

Later,

Well, is anyone actually employing a kicker at this point, which they find satisfactory? If so, exactly how are you doing so, and what are the apparent strengths and weaknesses of your approach?