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Light Speed Rigging’s new fibre rigging system set to ‘change the game’

White sailboat with two sails This image is for illustration purposes – it’s QTG33 fitted with LightSpeed Rigging, supplied courtesy of the company’s website

Light Speed Rigging, a fibre sailboat rigging company, has introduced a new system called LS Photon. It allows sailboat riggers to install high-performance fibre rigging on a wider range of sailboats using common wire rigging connections. This means more sailors can now take advantage of the enormous strength and weight benefits of fibre rigging. Until now, those benefits were only available to high-level racers.

Light Speed’s Vernon Hultzer explains: “The development time for this product was three years. The challenge was being able to successfully terminate the pultruded rod, with the aluminium cone, while creating a robust chafe resistant, UV resistant cable which does not suffer from creep nor thermal dimensional variances.”

LS Photon is constructed using a UHMWPE fiber, which is blended with a Vectran fibre, which are then pultruded through a series of dies, to create a solid but flexible rod.  

The addition of Vectran, stabilised the cable, and prevents creep and dimensional changes due to environmental changes like temperature and humidity.

Hultzer says the company has many different type of boats using the system currently including performance cruisers to club race boats. 

“This product has been engineered to replace compact strand wire, so just about any boat could use it,” he adds.

LS Photon is available worldwide and is currently built in Light Speed’s factory in Maryland.

Read the latest sail and rigging news

The key to the system is the LS Photon Terminal fitting (technical details are available on the company’s website). Made from a combination of aluminium, titanium, and polycarbonate, it has interchangeable threaded end inserts that can be configured for most common wire rigging connection terminal styles. This allows a rigger to use normal Stemball, T-ball, Stud, Turn Buckle, and Toggle fittings when creating new rigging. The LS Photon Terminal also has a new way to bond the fibre cable inside its cone. Light Speed Rigging says that is both easy to install and incredibly strong.

A complete rigging system, the company says LS Photon replaces heavy steel cable with its blend of exceptionally strong UHMWPE & Vectran fibre cables. Pultruded for maximum strength, it is designed to last over 10 years in saltwater conditions and is stronger than steel, fully UV and chafe resistant, and will not corrode. Plus, it’s up to 85 per cent lighter than wire rigging, which means it reduces weight up high on the mast where it is most critical to the boat’s stability.

“LS Photon completely changes the game for sailboat rigging,” says president, Vernon Hultzer. “For the first time, the performance benefits of fibre rigging are now available to almost any sailboat owner as an easy replacement option. Custom engineered to fit the boat’s specs, it works with almost any spreader or rigging configuration, including continuous or discontinuous setups.”

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