Your boat's running rigging is not the place to economize. If you purchase quality rope designed for a specific use, you'll do more than improve your boat’s performance: quality rope, properly cared for, can be used repeatedly for progressively less demanding jobs, giving it a long and useful life.

With today's new high-tech synthetic fibers and advanced rope construction, you can buy rope that's 10 times stronger than steel with extremely low stretch. Many racers and cruisers have switched from wire to all-rope halyards; others have also opted for high-strength, low-stretch, lightweight ropes for their running rigging.

All-rope halyards have several advantages over wire. Hand-over-hand hoisting is much faster than cranking an all-wire winch; it's safer, too. Wire is hard on both your hands and gear. Rope is easier to splice, it won’t scrape paint or anodizing from your mast, and you don't have to decide whether or not to rely on a worrisome rope-to-wire splice. The primary disadvantages are that rope is thicker, so it has more windage aloft, and even the ultra-low-stretch fibers will elongate more than wire. Quality rope costs more than wire, but it’s easier to install, lasts longer, and can be recycled in a less demanding capacity.

How Much Line Do I Need?

Halyards. Add the height of the mast, plus the length of the headstay, plus the distance to the winch, plus about 10' for a tail.

Jib and Genoa Sheets For the working jib only, you need just slightly more than the length of your boat for each sheet. For genoas, figure 1 1/2 times boat length.

If you have a staysail, add in some extra length to accommodate the staysail stay.

Mainsheets. Your best bet is to remove the existing sheet and measure it for a replacement, since there is so much variation in purchase ratios and attachment points along the boom

Spinnaker Sheets should be two times the length of the boat, plus about 4' for both eye splices. If you use separate afterguys, they should be about 1 1/4 times boat length.

Tip: Don't be tempted to grab a sheet and press it into some other dockside duty or jury-rig for which it was not intended just because it's handy. Use another less expensive nylon or Dacron all-purpose utility line like braid-on-braid or BOAT/U.S. nylon three-strand twist. Your sheets will last much longer.