Tuning guides will only get you so far.
What's the point of rig tuning guides? Most commonly — for example, if you search for “49er tuning guide” and your search engine is generous — you will find a table that shows optimal shroud tensions for different wind strengths.
Shrouds are tensioned to bend the mast, which in turn affects sail shape. The thing is, however, that different crew weights and sailing styles call for different sail trims, and therefore in certain wind conditions the same bend should not be used by all sailors.
Furthermore, variance in hulls’ and masts’ stiffness means that the same shroud tensions do not yield the same mast bend in different boats. That’s one of the reasons why we don’t love the idea of measuring rig tension, and go for the sails instead.
All factors taken into account, one should treat the tuning guide as a only starting point, not objective truth. For further optimisation, we would rather measure sail shape, not rig tension.
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