Whistling rig!

[rbh1515]

When the winds are 10-12 knots or more, the wind really whistles in the rig.  Is this something common to Cat Boats?  It would have to get a lot windier in my sloops for the wind to whistle in the rig.
Rob

[Jon898]

It's a function of the diameter of the wire and the tension as well as the wind velocity.  I'm guessing the sloops had larger diameter wires?  If it really annoys you, you can always rig up vortex shedders by putting a spiral of light twine up the shrouds...you see that kind of shape/structure added on some car aerials and on tall metal chimneys.

[nreamer]

I noticed that whistling on our last sail, the only one so far with decent winds since I got the boat.  It was great fun, and I thought the whistling was kind of cool...  It was a sail right before dusk, kind of overcast, and I had three people on the boat that had never sailed.  It was fun watching them adjust to the heeling and then the whistling.  With the overcast / low light, it was kind of eerie!  At any rate, I had never heard it in relatively light winds (same 10 -2 knots) like that either.

[rbh1515]

It's a function of the diameter of the wire and the tension as well as the wind velocity.  I'm guessing the sloops had larger diameter wires?  If it really annoys you, you can always rig up vortex shedders by putting a spiral of light twine up the shrouds...you see that kind of shape/structure added on some car aerials and on tall metal chimneys.

It's not really annoying, just different.  I have sailed on many sloops with small diameter wire rigging and have not had the pronounced whistling.  I figured it mat be coming from the peak halyard which zig-zags up at the gaff.
Rob

[Bilge Rat]

I agree - it must be a cat boat thing as I never heard it on sloops.

[Joseph]

Love that humming! (it's the Mermaids of the Sea... or the Naiads, if lake or river...).

[Aldebaran_III]

I've always had this whistle on my HC at wind speeds near to, and over 15 knots.
Now I've proved, at least to my own satisfaction, that the whistle is from the aft slot in the mast.

The whistle has always been a pretty pure tone. I decided to install a down haul for the gaff after some sticky sail drops. I ran a 2 mm braided line from the gaff, in and out of the plastic sail slugs, down to a metal loop at the base of the mast and back to the cockpit.
When out sailing I noticed this line was slightly loose up the mast and the loops between the sail slugs were vibrating back and forth. The wind was over 15 knots and now the whistle was no longer pure, it was being modulated at the same rate that the line was vibrating. I pulled the downhaul tight and the whistle immediately went back to a pure tone.
For me, that is source located! I don't find it annoying, but it is nice to know the cause.

Derek