[Rhodes22-list] Sail Plan Changes

[Hank]

Brad,

Consider the sail as the force at the end of a lever.  The closer the force
to the fulcrum the less the effect.  So, the higher up the sail, the more
the boat will heel over in a blow.  Lower sail, less heeling.  Also, the
rhodes sails faster upright than heeled over.  This is not true for most
sailboats.  Many boats increase waterline length, and theoretical hull
speed, when heeled over.  The rhodes hull shape really doesn't so heeled is
not better.

Hank


On 10/31/07, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ok, boys and girls, put your thinking caps on!  Here's the deal, the sails
> rep I've been visiting with has a 9.2C just like mine that he raised the
> boom 10 inches on for better headroom (mine is about 5' 11 1/8 inches
> above
> the cockpit which gives me 1/4 inch to play with versus getting whacked
> while standing up).  He also shortened his boom length 21 inches which I
> really don't want to do.  He says the boat handles better, has less
> weather
> helm, and the center of effort moves forward.  Other than the obvious loss
> of sail area (less than 5% by my calculations) what can be anticipated in
> changes of handling characteristics? He (the rep) says it moves the center
> of effort forward and the boat is more stable based on his experience.
>
> Now this from Stan's site: *Lowering the boom, automatically lowers the
> sail
> inside the mast, which in turn lowers the center of effort of the sail,
> therefore increasing the stability of the boat without cutting sail area.
> In fact, boat speed actually increases slightly by lowering the boom.
>
> *Can we assume then that raising the boom will decrease stability and if
> so
> by what margin?  What is your experience? Loss of speed is not an issue
> with
> me. Everytime I think about these things I get a headache.  I'm sure Stan
> could answer this in about 2 seconds but I'm afraid he'd want a donation
> for
> his experience.  That greed thing again.  I'm hoping someone can think
> this
> through and give an informed opinion at a reasonable cost.  Like free!
>
> Brad
> *
>
> *
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