Chafe paranoia

The problem with all fore-and-aft rigs is that squared away off the wind, they suffer chafe on the mainsails from standing rigging. Everything appears fine until you look aloft and see the spreader outlined in the mainsail. On yachts with aft-swept spreaders it can be a real issue. Unless you’re crossing an ocean, the answer for coastal work is simply to make sure the sail can’t ‘worry’ against the metalwork and wires. Vang it down hard, set up a gybe preventer, then sheet in firmly against it so that the boom can’t move at all. No movement equals no chafe. Things might look a bit ugly, but it’s better that way than heaving the sheet in too hard and suffering weather helm all the way to Cherbourg!