What's happening here?

[Ed]

Weird traveller on the back of this FD.

Really struggling to see how it would improve things...



eib

[neil]

Is the helm really wearing flares?

[Rupert]

Can't figure out the traveller system, but I'm guessing this isn't a recent photo?!

Flared jeans and no BAs, those were the days... mind, Bristol Avon SC was still like that fairly recently - hope it hasn't changed!

[alan williams]

I think it's the Pajot Brothers ( French you know), Pushed a certain Rodney Paterson hard at various events in the late 60's early 70's. They now build and design very expensive Catamarans. I think the gantry thing was just one of those crazy experiments to throw a red herring. Just like Rodney did with ropes that lead nowhere, which we discovered on FD 350 his last FD when Graham restored her.
Cheers Al

[Hotspur]

Looks to me as though it's a similar principle to a mainsheet hoop - raising the block to be level with the bomb so the mainsheet loads are all lateral. Put a mainsheet hoop on a traveller and you have something like this. I can't figure out that wire bracing though. Seems a bit over-thought.

[Ed]

God.....there's a bomb.....I missed that entirely

eib

[chris]

Ed, It goes off 'BOOM BOOM'

[LASERTOURIST]

I also thought of the Pajot Brothers (silver medal in the 72 Olympics)...but they generally used french made Chéret sails (an olympic triangle racecourse as sailmaker logo)...but they experimented a lot and miht t some point have used banks sails .

The weird system seems to be a light weather device to supress vertyical tension in the leech .while centering the mainsail