J. K.

Mack

5/7/2001

A Basic Guide to Europe Dinghy Rigging

The Basics:

Use the smallest blocks available for the line size. Most of the blocks on your boat will
be micro blocks.

Examine all of your rigging and ensure that your lines do not cross or chafe against
anything causing unnecessary friction. Friction can make your lines 50% more difficult
or even impossible to pull on.

Use the right line (diameter and type) for all of your control lines. Pre-stretch, Spectra
line (with or without a cover) will take any loads the Europe can dish out larger lines
just add friction. See above.

Cut off excess line lengths. You really wont need the extra line (honest, line only
stretches over time) and the tails can get sucked into the adjacent blocks.

Adding purchase reduces your work proportionally. See appendix for explanation.
--- Good rigging looks (and is) clean and neat ---

Line Guide:
Small Sail Control Lines 7/64th to 1/8th inch
Boom Vang 10 feet
Cunningham - 5 feet 6 inches
Inhaul 5 feet 6 inches
Outhaul - Simple Outhaul - 17 feet 3 inches
Magic Outhaul - 22 feet 2 inches
Deck Control Lines 3/16th inch; Four 10 lengths of different colors.
Main Sheet 5/16th to 3/8th inch pre-stretch; 22 (or longer)
Traveler Line 1/4th inch; approximately 5 feet
Halyard Approximately 24 feet of the smallest diameter line that doesnt jump the
sheave.
Bow Line Essential item for Luther coaching. Approximately 40 feet of 1/4th to 5/16th inch
non-absorbent line. Tie this snuggly around your deck mast collar not to (or through) that
itty bitty eye strap on your bow.

-1-

J. K. Mack

5/7/2001

Outhaul:

Your Outhaul must have a full range of motion approximately 7 to 8 inches. You need
to be able to pull the outhaul in all the way to the red band on your boom and let it off
until the foot of your sail forms its maximum foot shelf depth.

Bungie rigged inside the boom will help to pull the outhaul line aft, making the line
attached the sail slack and allowing the sail to ease off quicker.

I advise rigging your outhaul on the

outside of the boom first so it is easy to
check and correct the full range of
motion. Once you have it right, string it
inside. I promise this will save hours of
frustration!

Check that the entire system runs freely

especially at the gooseneck.

You may have to drill dead-end

holes in your boom. Use the smallest
hole the line will fit through.

All booms should have a 7 to 8 inch

safety line as shown above.

Mark your boom starting from the edge of the red band counting towards your mast.
Outhaul position is key to your speed. Most of our fleet has been using approximately 1inch increments, which seem to give a good measure and are large enough to see
when hiking out.

*Boom line lengths*

All line lengths given in the Rigging Guide include enough room for tight bowlines tied
to the blocks, etc. (about 3). The knots were untied before the lines were measured.

-2-

J. K. Mack

5/7/2001

Simple Outhaul - 2:1in diagram converts to 4:1 when tied off to your deck control line
block.

Line 1: Dead end at front of boom, go through micro block and down through control
line block: 10-7 (322cm).

Line 2: Tie onto sail clew then to inside micro block: 6-8 (197cm).

Line 2: 6-8

Line 1: 10-7

Micro block

Run line through micro block or

sheave in boom.

Optional tensioned bungie tied to

block.

The Magic Outhaul - (an original by Luther Carpenter) 3:1 in diagram converts to 6:1
when tied off to your deck control line block.

Line 1: Dead end at front of boom then tie to 1st micro block located approximately in
the center of the mainsheet and vang pad eyes: 3-4 (102cm).

Line 2: Tie to becket on 2nd micro block and go through 1st micro block, then back
through the 2nd micro block and down through control line block: 14-1 (430cm).

Line 3: Tie onto sail clew and then to 2nd inside micro block: 4-9 (145cm).

Line 3: 4-9
Line 1: 3-4
1st micro block

Run line through micro

block or sheave in boom.

-3-

Line 2: 14-1 Tie end of red line

to becket on 2nd micro block.

J. K. Mack

5/7/2001

Add a Purchase to any Outhaul system

Note that adding this purchase will reduce your outhaul range.

Shackle a micro block to the sail

clew. Run line up through block.
Dead end at end of boom.

Inhaul: (See Lever Bar Vang diagram)

Make sure you can pull it all the way and ease it off.

Luther recommends running the line out of the block, around the front of the mast
and tied off on the other side to pull the sail forward rather than down.

The Inhaul is led inside the Boom gooseneck and a Vang block up through a small
block attached to the gooseneck plate, through the sail grommet and tied off to a
bent shackle bolted to the gooseneck plate.

Cunningham: (See Lever Bar Vang diagram)

Make sure you can pull it all the way on (grommet to the boom if necessary!) and
ease it completely off.

The Cunningham is led outside the Boom gooseneck and Vang blocks through the
pad eye welded on the gooseneck, through the sail grommet and tied off to the
opposite pad eye.

Boom Vang:

When your Vang is all the way on it should pull the end of the boom down about 3
inches past 90 as referenced from the mast. You need a lot of Vang to be fast on
those breezy reaches!

The maximum Vang off position is when the end of the boom can be lifted
approximately 1.5 feet off the transom. This can be adjusted to your height.

Always check over your Vang system for wear before sailing as it takes a lot of load.
Broken Vangs are almost impossible to fix on the water.

-4-

J. K. Mack

5/7/2001

Lever Bar Vang - Adjust pins in lever arm and plate to get the proper range of motion.

Cunningham
Inhaul

Sail tie to
prevent sail
from pulling
out of track.

Block with
becket
Wire Cable or Spectra line led looped
through block about 44 inches total length
Deck mast collar

Cascading Vang - Adjust Wire Cable or Spectra line length to get the proper range of
motion.

Use double
block

Upper line length is 22 inches from

end of eyelet to block (leave room
for knot or swage).

Tie red line

off at
becket

Lower line length is 26 inches from

end of eyelet to block (leave room
for knot or swage).
Approximately 48 inches of Wire Cable or
Spectra line looped around a thimble and
attached to the mast with a shackle.

-5-

J. K. Mack

5/7/2001

Deck Control Lines:

Use four different color lines if possible to make it easier to find the right control line
at those crazy mark roundings.

Follow the diagram below for

rigging order. I highly
recommend rigging the
Outhaul control line through
the top tank block (as shown).
Therefore, when you rig your
boat after traveling, you just
reach for the top block and tie
on your Outhaul line from your
boom. This makes it hard to
cross the other inside control
lines.

Mainsheet:

Move the Boom eye staps for your mainsheet system as close together as possible
and center it above your traveler. Basically, if your system is rigged at an angle you
are not only attempting to pull the boom down but over. This feels like twice as
much work to pull in your sail and in fact is.

Tie your mainsheet off to the first eye strap rather than a becket on your upper
mainsheet block. This way, if one of your eye strap fails or shifts you can still sheet in
your boom.

Boom eye straps

Mainsheet should run as

close to parallel as possible

Ratchet block shackled to

cockpit floor supported upright
by a spring or tubing.

Traveler bar

-6-

J. K. Mack

5/7/2001

Halyard Wire, Hoist and measuring Mast Rake:

Make sure your halyard wire is the right length with the swages in the right locations
to hoist your sail all the way up to the band. You can fudge a bit by getting a
different size halyard shackle. If your sail is not fully hoisted you will be slow!

Make an extra halyard wire and bring it to all your

regattas.

BUY YOUR OWN TAPE MEASURE. Try to get a

metric one 7.5 meters (25 feet) long. If you cant
find a metric tape, just mark in the centimeter
increments between 17 and 18 feet with a
permanent marking pen.

Attach a ring-ding to the end of the tape

measure so you have something to attach your
halyard shackle to when measuring your rake.

To measure your rake: Hoist your tape up the mast and lock in the halyard. Pull the
tape down to the stern of the boat, even with the deck, above the gudgeons as
shown in the diagram. Push down on the stern allowing the mast butt to shift
forward (causing the mast tip to shift back) putting the mast in sailing position. Pull
the tape snug but dont bend the mast. With Green Sails, 540cm is looking like a
good rake to start at and with the WB Sails, 545cm is working.

Rake Length

-7-

Max hoist

Swage small loops

in the halyard wire.

J. K. Mack

5/7/2001

Rudder Angle:

There should be none. The back of your rudder should sit parallel to the stern of your
boat otherwise you will have terrible weather helm.

If you cant keep the rudder from kicking up then you should bolt completely
through your rudder and rudder head using a small diameter bolt or pin.

Measure your rudder angle while it is attached to your boat.

Check to make sure your

gudgeons are level and
lined up vertically on the
stern move them if they
are out of alignment.

Secondary
pin or bolt

Centerboard:

The Centerboard should fit snuggly in the CB trunk because its position (height,
angle) is key. Add electrical tap or packing tape to the inside of your CB trunk until
the Centerboard fits snuggly enough to stay put during sailing.

Appendix:
Purchase
Susie only has to tug with 25 pounds of force using her purchase system to drag her 100
pound mule Buttercup into the barn. Note that her effort is reduced by a factor of 4
this purchase is 4:1.

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