Good question. I set mine up with the lowers completly slack and put as much tension on them as I can without deflecting the deck. They will certainly load up plenty when going upwind with the backstay on! Having the tie downs at the right tension is a key part of headstay tension through the aft lowers. If they are too loose the deck will flex alot, the fitting will leak, and the rig will be bending more than you think.

Warning- I have seen at least one boat that lost its rig because the structure at the bottom of the tie down failed and the loaded aft lower went through the deck. I don't know the full history but it is possible that later boats had their structure up graded or the addition of the inline lowers and reduced weight limit solved the problem. Watch for small cracks and if yours looks fine then it is probably ok.

Also I have seen boats damaged or a mast lost because the part of the tie down wire failed.

Very unfortunately as was shown at the 'light air' nationals- it is a good idea to replace the old wire on your boat periodicaly. Most riggers would say 5-7 years of racing and you should consider it. If part of the wire on any of your standing rigging has more than 10 seasons of hard racing on the bay then you should consider doing it ASAP. Also I replace my wire lifelines every 2 years if they need it or not. I would tell a new boat owner to automaticaly change all of it if its history is at all unclear. It is my personal opinion that the rod uppers last much longer than the woven wire- but all should be carefully inspected periodically- like where they turn at the spreader tips.

I hope that helps! Cheers, WP

:: Aft-Lowers: It there a set-up proceedure that seems to
:: work in tensioning the under-deck support cables for the
:: aft-lowers...the ones that run from under the deck to
:: the bulkhead. If they are too lose, its difficult to
:: maintain a consistant tension in the aft-lowers, the
:: deck will be pulled up/develop cracks and leaks will
:: occur. I don't know what will happen it they are too
:: tight. Will the deck crack in that situation also? Will
:: the fitting leak also? I experienced some water leakage
:: at the aft-lower deck fittings during the "windless"
:: Nationals and before I attempt to seal the fittings, I'd
:: like to know how to set them up. It would be nice to set
:: up these suport cables and not to touch them when I
:: adjust the aft-lowers for specific races.