J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment spinnaker pole bridles

I'm trying to find out if Mallorca has used a velcro wrap to attach the topping/downhaul rings to the spinnaker pole. If so has there been a problem with the wrap sliding back on the pole? I would never use a velcro wrap to attach the mainsheet to the boom.

I found an old email about the center pick point from Clint Rand at Forte Carbon Fiber Products. Excerpts below.

The D rings are lashed tightly with line. There is enough texture from the carbon layup that tightly wrapped line gets a "grip" on the pole. The lashing is probably 2" wide so it has a pretty good footprint and spreads the loads.

On Slingshot, our bridal broke once sailing in around 25kts of breeze. We rigged up a ring to the center of the pole using some spare velcro. It worked, but it was damn scary watching the old aluminum pole flex with the gusts. I bet the tip of the pole was traveling a good foot with the up and down hauls on tight. I guess carbon fiber is stiffer, so doesn't flex as much (they use it on bow sprits, after all).

I wonder how much power you give up to pole flex, that would otherwise be sent through the bridal directly to the boat...

the consensus seems to be that aluminum poles without bridles will bend at hotter angles in higher apparent winds, whereas carbon poles even if they deflect a bit are less prone to failure. Looks like it's back to bridles (or maybe a carbon pole) Just installed a Harken windward sheeting car/track so the pole will need to wait.