Hi Steve,

So here is my opinion. Not that it is worth anything but I did spend a number of years working as a rigger if that makes a difference LOL.

First, I would definitely not go back to wire. Everything has its goods and bads but there are many reasons to avoid wire rope halyards. It is brutal on your crew and on your rig (Read as sheaves, spreaders, meat hooks etc). I would not even consider this as an option but that is just me.

With this said, I also avoid crystaline/vectran. While it is sold as having less stretch than Spectra/Dyneema, the core is so hard that clutches have a hard time clamping down on the line. While also being good at chafe resistance, it is not as good as the Spectra/Dyneema alternative IMO.

With this said, you could look at a long lay Dyneema halyard like warpspeed 2 which will have less creep (creep is the settling of the braid under tension). The down side is that if you taper your halyards, the long lay is prone to having the tapered portion of the cover come out of the weave due to being a bit looser weave on the core. You can certainly minimize this though by using a polyurathane coating like maxi jacket though.

The other thing to check is your clutches. I am running small spinlock clutches but the plate size is very important. If you are running the 6-12 MM plate, that may be the cause of your issue. I run the 4-8 MM plates and have had very little issues myself. You might be able to see what plates you are running by looking in the clutch. It may be covered in dirt and such but there should be some numbers on the plate if you are spinlocks.

Just for comparison - I am running 5/16 halyards for everything. My forward facing halyards are Warpspeed 1 that are tapered (has a bit more creep the WS2 but better at holding the cover where the taper is). Main is warpspeed 2 that is not tapered.

Anyway, just thought I share what works for me.

Jason

:: Anyone else having trouble with rope jib halyards? I've
:: been using crystaline 5/16, a line that has minimal
:: stretch and creep, and cannot maintain enough luff
:: tension. I have a jib halyard tensioner and that helps a
:: little but I still watch the wrinkles creep back every
:: upwind leg. Anyone know a line that does not stretch and
:: creep? Has anyone gone to wire for jib halyards? SDK