[quote=Andinista]Now look at the upper bridles. The formula is still the same. Decompose the upper bridle tension between a horizontal component, along the spreader, and a vertical (or so) component, parallel to the forestay. The "vertical" component is Ts/2, it doesn't vary with the angle. The horizontal component is the only one affected by the angle (the only one that tends to infinity on the previous reasoning ..)
So the spreader takes that horizontal component (or most of it) and releases it from the bows. That's its function. It´s all about how much it changes the angle of the lower and upper bridles.
The length of lower and upper bridles doesn't matter if you keep the angles.<!-- editby --><em>Edited by Andinista on Aug 18, 2014 - 03:33 PM.</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]
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