Re: Sail Aspect Ratio

Steve Barnes (Oldsurfdude@worldnet.att.net)
Wed, 14 Apr 1999 13:23:55 -0700


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Gordon wrote:
>
> On sailboats, I've read that high-aspect-ratio rigs are faster upwind, and
> low-aspect rigs are faster off the wind, all other things being equal. My
> very-low-aspect-ratio lateen rig seems to demonstrate that. There is also a
> greater heeling moment with a high-aspect-ratio sail. My lateen rig can
> tolerate higher winds than my sloop rig even though the lateen has a little
> more sail area than the original small main plus jib on my sloop rig.

Incidentally Harry, I meant to say something about this at the time, but
got too involved in refurbishing my then new old Capri. The last couple
of times I sailed lateen rigged Popeye, last summer, I experimented by
completely removing the pin from the sleeve and putting a small block of
wood down in the bottom of the sleeve. The mast sat on that block
inside the sleeve so low that the boom just cleared the cabin top. I
didn't try it both ways in the same conditions, so I can't say for sure,
but I honestly believe the boat heeled even less and was even faster. I
had gotten the idea from articles I read, that the current trend in
Sunfish racing is to carry the rig as low as possible, and that they
were getting those same results. You should try it sometime. The only
downside was that it blocked a lot more of the view.

:)

Steve Barnes, now a lurker, temporarily sailing a Capri-16, #74, in San
Diego.
(former WWP-14 skipper)
OLDSURFDUDE