FYI, common wisdom (in general terms) is......
M in MI's description of how his forestay, shrouds, and trap wires are connected to the tang is "correct". On older masts there was only one hole, so there was no option. Extra shackles should not be used..... an extra adjuster (like in the pic above) at the bottom would be better. Also, the big shackle holding the shrouds and forestay should have a hole in the end of the pin where SS safety wire is looped though and wound so that the pin doesn't loosen accidentally. Alls these are to minimize chance of a dismast.
More (aft) mast rake puts more pressure on the sterns and less on the bows. This depowers, improves pointing, and lessens pitchpole tendency. Less rake improves power and helps downwind, but makes the 16 more likely to pitch in big wind. For heavy crews, chop, or light air, less rake is better. For light crews, flat water, and high wind, more is better. In between, the combinations are many, and since rake can't be adjusted on the water, you sometimes just have to guess.
The problem with pinning the jib tack too low at the bridle is that the jib sheets will go block to block well before the jib is actually sheeted flat.
Regardless of how much the mast is raked (aft) by shortening shrouds, lengthening forestay, etc. It won't help (and may hurt) performance if the mainsail is so stretched that it's can't be tightened enough to flatten it when the mainsheet is block to block.
To set for max rake, pin shrouds as low as they will go, but where the mainsheet is just short of going block to block when sheeted hard. Once rake is set, whether max rake or something less, pin jib tack as low as it will go, but where jib sheets are not quite block to block when sheeted hard. Then, if you have a multi-hole clew plate, pin jib clew where tension on foot and leech are equal (upper and lower telltails break at the same time). All of these have to be set with the boat fully rigged and the rig tightened, so it can take some iterations.
These are just the basics. There are lots of tricks out there to tweak the block stack heights, jib connections, etc to acheive more or less rake when needed. My experience was that, until I learned to really handle the boat, differences in mast rake were negligible in terms of performance for most conditions.
Hope this helps!
_________________ Jerome Vaughan Hobie 16
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