Pendragon: a new rigging by Armare Ropes for the refitting of the prestigious maxi, 70 feet one off in carbon costruction launched in 2010. The yacht is currently managed by Carlo Alberini’s Lightbay Sailing Team.
Pendragon is an extremely fast super yacht, designed to excel in both offshore and inshore regattas, and equipped, among other things, with a hydraulic lifting keel, retractable propeller and double rudder. The refitting involved all the running rigging and required the development and construction of some specific high technical performance ropes. Let’s analyze in detail the various technical solutions adopted for the new Pendragon’s running rigging by Armare Ropes.
Jib sheets
Pendragon – Jib sheet in action
The jib sheets have been studied in detail in order to obtain a long-lasting and extremely performing product. In case of tack, the continuous adjustments and the rapid slackening around winches with efficient – but also aggressive bells – can make the sheets suffer, particularly from friction and the high temperatures that can be reached.
For this reason we have choosen a cover with a balanced mix of highly resistant fibers, such as PBO-Zylon® and Gold Technora®, with the addition of a percentage of Dyneema®, to increase the fluidity of the slackening (in order to slacken more fluidly). For the core, on the other hand, we have chosen the Dyneema® SK99, in order to minimize the elongation under load.
Eye splice with cover in Dyneema®
Finally, we have removed the cover from the part intended for the “static” load and replaced it with a cover in Dyneema®, in order to increase the easy movement in the sheet point’s adjustment ring, and also giving greater lightness to the entire rigging.
Close-up of the transition between PBO-GTECH-DYN cover and DYN cover
Jib sheet detail
Custom rings in titanium
Custom ring in titanium for jib sheet point adjustment
In support of the running rigging, we have created and installed on board many custom pieces specially designed for different uses; f.e. we have made titanium rings to allow adjustment of the sheet point of the jibs. The groove of the ring has been designed to accommodate the up / down adjustment rope in Supercable 99 (whose cover in Black Dyneema® allows to minimize the friction in the passages of the rail) while the central hole allows the passage of an additional sheet in the case of peeling.
T- Bone and flying single strop
Custom T-Bone in titanium
A specific custom fitting has been designed also for the T-Bone, connecting the flying block with the cable end. This custom product has been designed both for the shear load and also in order to prevent the loop to slipping from its position.
Covered light shackle
Covered light shackle
We made several Light Shackle, with the addition of a protective cover in Black Dyneema®, in order to give to a product that is already extremely versatile, such the traditional uncovered textile shackle, a greater durability and resistance. These items have been designed for connecting the sheets to the different sails: jibs, Gennaker and Code 0.
Loop and Single Strop
Loop blocks dedicated to the deflection of the gen sheets towards the winch
Loop for sheet blocks and mainsail
Single strop with T-Bone for mainsheet block
Loops and single strops were designed and built on the basis of the characteristics of the equipment to which they would be integrated. Most modern blocks have a layout designed for the attachment by textile in the center hole of the pulley. The loops are constructed with multiple passes of Dyneema® in order to achieve the desired workload and then covered with a protective cover in Black Dyneema® in order to avoid “discoloration” due to atmospheric agents. A treatment with a polyurethane coating guarantees further protection. The loops can be used both in the “Basket” and “T-Bone”configurations.
Lock Strops
Lock strop for fractional gennaker halyard
Close-up of the lock strop for fractional gennaker halyard
Close-up of the lock strop left mast-head halyard
The lock strops, intended for various rigging, from halyards to reefing hands, have a construction similar to the loops: multiple passages of a core in Dyneema® SK99, together with a protective cover in Dyneema®, resin-coated with different colors, to facilitate the recognition of the lines. Snap shackles and a Teflon disc have been added to the lock strops in order to reduce the risk of damage on masthead and pulleys during hoisting.
Halyards
Different colors mixed to identify each line
Right jib halyard: two green markers
Melange or Marker + PET to diversify the rigging
For the halyards we have chosen to privilege resistance to abrasion and high temperatures triggered by fast slackening during the furling of the sails. On Pendragon, for the new rigging by Armare Ropes, we opted for a cover composition particularly suitable for this purpose: Black Technora® which together with Polyester gives good grip while Dyneema® allows greater fluidity. In order to improve the distinction of the rigging we have made the mixes with colored PET, both obtaining a “melange” effect and adding lines of different colors.
Pendragon boom