Nomad Rig Tuning

The following notes are extracted from the Yacht Pals discussion forum.

In response to a query by one Nomad sailor, Steve Clark, one of the developers of the Nomad replied:

Things that are "standard" work pretty well.
You want plenty of rig tension as the breeze builds. This keeps the luff of the jib from sagging, which is how you keep the jib flat. The mast should be set up with a bit of pre-bend; when the rig is pulled on snug there is a little fore and aft bend induced by the spreaders. You do not want the mid panel of the mast to sag to leeward, if that is happening, shorten the spreaders. Try 3 holes showing. If the mast looks like it is bowing too far to windward, then you will want to move the spreader tips out a hole or two. This is usually something that you can judge as you are sailing, and if things look abnormal, you can almost always sheet it soft and get home.
Try putting the shrouds someplace in the middle of the range on the hole adjusters. You should be able to pull pretty hard on the jib halyard and still have the mast raked aft by a fair bit. The lowers should be put such that they not really slack, but no where near as tight as the uppers when there is no vang on.
In a breeze, flatten the mainsail by pulling hard on the out haul, hard on the down haul and setting the vang pretty hard. Mast bend flattens the sail so let it bend. One way is to let the lowers off a hole or two and pull harder on the vang tackle. The strut pushes the mast forward and thus induces a bunch of bend. You can, as a result ease the mainsheet quite a bit and still have a flat sail.

The original documentation for the Nomad indicates a different starting point:
Suggestions for where to place your spreader pins:
The Nomad spreaders are adjustable to allow different settings for a variety of sailing conditions. You should consider what the local weather conditions are (very windy, light, choppy, etc) before you set your spreaders. Spreaders with less sweep (greater distance between the spreaders) will make the mast stiffer whereas spreaders with more sweep (less distance between the spreaders) allow the mast to be more flexible. A more flexible mast will make the mainsail less powerful and easier to control in heavier wind conditions. Where as a stiffer mast produces more power in the mainsail which is better for lighter wind.