Sail plan: was CDI FURLER and NEW SAILS

Mac Davis (cgula@innet.com)
Mon, 14 Dec 1998 11:32:41 -0500


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Greetings all:
Judy has been asking questions about sail area and finding out that there
ain't no such thing as a stock potter. In an earlier post, I tried to make
the point that, unless you are racing under a class specification, the only
sail size that matters is what fits your individual boat, and that can best
be determined by having the boat measured by a knowledgeable sailmaker.
While I have had very good experiences with San Diego and St. Pete lofts,
apparently Judy's experience has not been so positive. Still, I think that
anyone who sails and has access to a sailmaker is well served by visiting
one.
Eric adds:
>In fact, the measurements for the main are a real joke - Even with an 8-ft
>boom and full hoist of the entire mast (not counting roach) you could
>only get 88 sq. ft, and thats with the boom scraping on the cabintop.
>
>Something to keep in mind anyways if you ever want to race PHRF or
>whatever - get your boat rated on actual sail area, not on the IM numbers.
>
>Another annoyance, but i still love my boat.

Remember from last year's thread about PHRF that boats under 20 feet LOA
aren't eligible for official PHRF certificates.
If we wan't to standardize sail plans, we need to form a class association.
I don't know why we might want to do that, but it's the proper way to insure
a level racing field. I race with my club under Portsmouth yardstick, and
do well enough to convince me that my ability and judgement are the deciding
factors in the outcome, rather than the 2" my main foot is shorter than
Jerry's (or anybody elses). I am curious that my lapper luff is some 3 feet
shorter than his. He must have a masthead rig.

There seem to be three sailplan variables that affect the size of sails
delivered with P19s. Tall vs short mast, long vs short boom, and masthead
vs. fractional rig. I think this works out to 8 possibilites, of which I
have tall mast, short boom, fractional rig (TSF). Of these 8 (?),
undoubedly one is superior to the rest, and it might be constructive to use
the winter months to develop a concensus as to which.

I intuit that tall mast, short boom, and masthead rig would be the best
configuration. Comment?
Mac Davis, Kelpie, WWP19#804, Aripeka, Fl
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