Many Viper owners have re-rigged their main sheets by moving the bridle from amidships to the stern, immediately in front of the split tails of the mainsheet—using the same deck pad eyes. Over half of the boats at the 2018 NAs used this aft bridle/aft split tail set up. While this makes trimming the mainsheet much easier, the size of the triangle created by the two sides of the bridle (through which the tiller passes) can reduce the range of side-to-side tiller movement, and accordingly, the ability to make sharp turns. This has been raised to the Technical Committee (TC) as a concern by several owners.

The TC has gotten approval under Rule 10.13 for all owners to test a new aft bridle configuration to address the issue and lead to a possible rule change in the next rules cycle. We welcome your feedback.

To download the full Technical Committee explanation and see photos of this new set-up, click Aft Bridle Test Overview 092718.