Does anyone know anything about rig tension for the masthead version? I've omly just bought my boat form someone who really didn't believe in straining anything at all, and would really like some guidance.

Hi Tony

When you ask about rig tensioning, I assume you mean an adjustable backstay and not just shroud adjustment. I have posted some information about my system under the ‘Projects’ section. Hope this helps.

If you do mean shroud tensioning, then unless you have the necessary instrument to measure tension, it's a question of getting to know what feels right.

Nick & I did a check on the Christchurch boats last year.

Fractional
Vindicator Caps: 30, Inners 31
Excitation Caps: 31, Inners 32
Cumfrumbrum Caps: 32, Inners 30
Resolution: Mast not set up

Wicked Caps: 25 Inners 25

As a guide, we (Vindicator) would have sufficient tension such that the leward caps were never slack. In c.15 knots, we'd be winding some tension on the running backstays and tensioning the standing backstay to induce mast-bend to flatten the sail.
There is a quite a lot of difference between the boats in rake, spreader settings and chain-plate position, so the amount of mast bend differs considerably.

Hope this helps