[quote=MN3][quote]The only thing the shock cord is there for is to keep the lines out of your way when your not using them. [/quote]
well yes and no...
you need enough bungee so you can move around the boat as needed (front beam to rear beam)
also the shock cord will hold you close to the boat (or allow you to swing away from it depending on how much cord you got) if/when you pitch pole (stern in the air). if you have 2' (extreme example) of bungee you are gonna get whipped (or whiplash) around when the boat does its thing... the more bungee you have the more room you have to "fly" (also called peter panning as you fly forward).
After a few flights around your forestay... (hahah) you can get pretty good at it. One time i was crew on a 6.0 with wings. we were double trapped (off the wings) in 25-30 when all of a sudden his spinnaker retrieval line (dangling under the tramp) was snagged on a crab trap float. We went from 25 knots to 0 in 1 second and were both thrown forward.. the sudden force ripped his spinnaker spinlock off the mast... and ripped another block off somehow.
as i flew in front of the boat.. i looked where i was gonna come back (into the forestay) and i simply put my hands out to grab it (and protect my face) as i came back "down to earth". He wasn't so lucky.. he smashed into his mast..
anyway had we not had 15' of bungee each .. it would have been different (not sure good or bad).
on my cat.. i have about 20' of bungee for me. it criss crosses under my tramp.. and i have 2 real small (cheap) blocks that aid in its layout.
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