Red Ranger's original mizzen setup had the mizzen sheet attached to a wire bridle that was shackled to the deck. Simple. Reliable.
But.
With shackles, it was difficult to press the bridle into service as a traveler. The mizzen, like the main, needs to he held down when off the wind. Because you can’t see it, it’s not as apparent when the boom is lifting and a vang would help the sail’s shape.
Some boats, like a Sunfish, use a bridle with a block that can alter the shape of the bridle’s triangle. I thought about this for a while, and opted not to try it. I suspected the Sunfish bridle is only there to leave room for the tiller.
What I did was get some of those big snap shackles, and a thimble, and made myself a moveable bridle. I could then adjust the height and mess with the positioning to see what I really wanted.
We used this for a few years. It was very nice to be able to adjust where the mizzen sheet ended.
For beating, I could move the the bridle to weather, and then ease the mizzen sheet exactly to midships.
(I’ve heard that it’s sensible to pull the mizzen even higher to help point closer to the wind. I haven’t tried this.)
For running, I could move the bridle off wind, using the running backstay’s anchor.
The picture may be confusing because there’s docklines running across the deck. And. Our fender board is tied into the taffrail with a whole bundle of docklines.
At this point, the size of the triangle seems about perfect, so, the old rope and seized thimble needs to go.
I have a coil with many, many feet of 3/16″ wire rope. I think, maybe, it was intended to be a spare shroud or stay. Knocking about 4′ off the end won’t — I hope — prove too large a problem.
I bought a pile of swageless fittings from E-Rigging.com (https://www.e-rigging.com/search.asp?keyword=51632205 and https://www.e-rigging.com/search.asp?keyword=51632105)
Now I have a mizzen bridle made with proper stainless wire rope, fittings, and shackles. Not a jumble of old dock line with a seized thimble. Once we get the water tanks in working order, we want to try this out.
