Okay, there we have found the core of the disagreement.
I'm indeed only really familiar with the 29-er, 49-er, laser 3000, laser 4000, laser 5000 and RS800 design. To me these were skiffs. I have only seen (and touched) a 18 footer twice in my life and none of the others. I did not test the rig tension at those times
Apparently these boats are alot different then the real skiffs as that boat breaker you show in the pic it a true monster !
That baby will easily pull effectively 16:1 or close to a 1000 kg.
The pic didn't load the first time I read your post, my internet exploder, ... well ... had some issues. I understand now.
With respect to the sheet loads I guess once again the difference is between the semi skiffs like 49-er and the true skiffs.
I remember we had only one ratchet block on the 49-er with only a 70-90 degree wrap around the sheeve. Remarkably that felt alright with me. Also these spis would collaps as soon as you tried to head up to a high broad reach.
He Stephen the way you make it sound it appears that the skiffs are not sailboats at all, but rather body building apparatus ! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> (joke)
It is like sailing an F16 and saying that you have experience what a Tornado has to offer………. Different league mate, different league.
I must really get a ride on a tornado sometime, apparently that is something else. I already feel that going from a Taipan 4.9 + spi to a modern F16 like the Blade is a big step up but it appears it gets better still. I never really believed that but maybe I need to do some fact checking in this case.
Wouter
