TripleTrapezee on H20

I have a H20 and just completed a race with my first mate, combined we had 380 pounds between us and with 25 knots of steady wind, it wasnt nearly enough weight. We routinely had the traveler all the way out, and let the the main sail all the way out until she hit the stay, and still we were hiking out as far as possible, and yes, we still flipped in 44 degree water. As I was swimming the bow around to get her pointed with the wind to help us right her (even the captain gets stuck doing the grunt work once in awhile), i thought why should we only have 2 trapezees? i could thread a third one right through the hole in the tramp as the second one is, and connect it to the same to the stay (at the base). not withstanding any racing regulations regarding number of trapezee's (maybe the limit is 2??) i dont see any issue with this. if there is enough wind, why not throw on more weight to level the boat. any thoughts?
-Captain Noah

Point higher?

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Not that this would work in your case, but, there was an 18 on the water this weekend that had 3 people trapped out, 2 on one side and one on the other, looked kinda fun.

I would think that you could do it, isn't race legal. On my Fox we regularly had three on board over 15kts. Two on the wire and me on the hull hiking. At some point you will still be overpowered regardless how many trap wires you have.

Our experience w/the 20 sounds about the same as the FOX. Anything over 15, need 500 pounds on board. Accomplishing this with three people works. Driving without being on the trapeze will be cold (44 degrees) 'cause you'll be drenched. I'd be leary of driving in 25 knots from the trap with 3-up. Hit a big wave and like dominoes you'll all be swimming.

Certainly are a lot of ways to depower the boat, but in 25 knots, how about a getting a Tiger?

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hobiejohn at earthlink dot net
Fleet 297

The solution is simple: Eat a (censored) load of pizza and donuts, drink some beer, eat lots of cereal, pop tarts, steak and M&Ms and wash it all down with a nice big milkshake and maybe another beer.

Works for me everytime.

I raced this way, three on the wire, on New Years Day in San Diego 2006. I am big, 250+, and I was sailing with two small girls, less than 100 each. The New Years Day Race is notorious for being light wind, but I had hope. By the end of the race, we were sailing upwind, triple trapped, passing big expensive boats with ten or more people on the rail, all the time, my crew of two singing silly songs and laughing. I was approached at San Diego Yacht club after the race by the skipper of one of the 45 footers that we passed. He said seeing my crew laughing and singing made his day. He was back in the pack, pissed and he said seeing them put the whole day back into perspective.

The two problems you may have, pitchpoling, even up wind as the leeward hull will have to offset your added leverage, and breaking the bow off the boat with the added leverage you will be placing higher loads on the boat, especially the bow just forward of the crossbar. There is also additional load on the rudders. Even with extended use of two big guys on the wire can fatigue and fail the 20's rudders. I am on my third set. So the two problems you may see are pitchpoling and breaking stuff, but you will have fun as you fly down the water between times spent swimming.

Now you're scaring me...but wait.

The printed information says the maximum load for the 16, Tiger AND 20 is 800 pounds, with crew size of 1 to 4 people.

I think they know we will try to set speed records by any possible means.

May void your warranty installing that third set of trapeze wires.

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hobiejohn at earthlink dot net
Fleet 297

When your boat is as old as mine, and Matt Miller has seen all the silly things I have done with it, and knows who owned it before me, warranty is not anywhere in the picture.

When the last rudder broke, Matt and I were double trap on Mission Bay, we felt a pop and I said to Matt, "that was weird", and then the rudder folded under the boat. He just laughed and said, "you know that is not covered". I bought a new set of rudders the next week. Now at least I have a ready to break spare...

... I was just glad that I wasn't offshore. It could have been a long sail home.

Sounds like a lot of load on the mast and forward crossbar. I'm not sure what kinds of load all that stuff is rated for. Have you tried flattening the main? Outhaul on, rotation centered, downhaul on. mainsheet on, travel out.

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