Posted by Bill Wallace-King on January 04, 2008 at 15:26:01 from 86.133.34.162 user Bill_Wallace.
In Reply to: Re: WDMTGTS questions, one fairly esoteric/nautical posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on December 29, 2007 at 00:43:58:
I suppose I am in a position to pass comment, or at least information, on Nancy's / the Goblin's current rig. Please bear in mind that when Mike Rines originally restored her, her did so by reference to the (very) good book, so any inaccuracies in AR's drawings may by now have been reproduced aboard!
Nancy's main halyard, jib halyard, and topping lift each have a block on the end of the wire halyard to provide a x2 purchase. (I presume this is what you mean by "a whip on the halyards".) Because of the need to get the top of the mainsail and the top of the jib right up, by definition these blocks are pulled down almost to deck level when the sails are fully hoisted. (i.e. the block is pulled down by as much as the sail is pulled up). The same does not apply to the block on the topping lift, which can be higher, as the other (boom) end is not required to move very far at all.
There is no added mechanical advantage on the staysail halyard, and there is an arrangement with pairs of blocks providing a x3 purchase for each running backstay. The runners are nowadays split in two again, and support the mast at both the crosstrees and the masthead, as clearly illustrated in "Tied up in Harbour".
Nancy currently has a pin rail with three pins on deck either side on the mast, and a single eyebolt on deck by the mast. There are then (I think) 3 wooden cleats on the mast itself. We maintain one end of the main halyard, jib halyard and topping lift ropes shackled to the eyebolt or pinrail as appropriate. I dare say AR may well have used the chainplates, but it would have created a real obstacle to movement past the mast if he did so for anything other than the topping lift.
Its fair to say that sweating the jib, and particularly the main, up is difficult towards the end as the blocks get down towards waist level. If the captive end were to be out at a chainplate and the other end cleated at the mast, most of the mechanical advantage would be lost as the block came down close to the deck.
My own guess looking at "All but O.B." is that it is the topping lift John is grasping.