Why not talk about tuning modern rigs and their huge range of adjustability?

The modern bermudan rig generally relies on a boom vang to have the same effect - and that can cost quite a bit of money. The traditional rigs on the other hand sacrifice something in fine adjustability and make up for it in simplicity and low cost. Modern race boats go completely overboard with adjustable bits - between a quarter and a third of the $25,000 cost of a 505 (racing dinghy for 2 people) or a Lightweight Sharpie (racing dinghy for three people) is in fittings, ropes and wires - Ronstan, Harken and the rest. This would be fine if it increased the performance by 25% but the reality is more like 5%. But that is enough to win races. Traditional rigs generally have a very low part of the cost involved in these parts - maybe about 5% of the all up cost - and the boat is already much cheaper anyhow. In fact we built two OZ PDRacers for less than the cost of a shroud tension system on a 505 or Australian Sharpie in 2006. $350 each. And the tuning of modern rigs is well covered in ...  more