I looked and found this:

Cunningham, sneaky ******* that he was, used his
invention to stretch and flatten the sail and still stay
between the lines. The man was a cheater. I don't
admire him one bit. A racer and a cheater is no
real sailor.

I do understand your point, but as racer, the game is to
beat the others according to the rule, so Cunningham (I
don't know much about him) were just doing his job, whether
or not you admire thatt - I guess, is a matter of
preference. Beating the rule is the name of the game, so I
don't think you haveb much of a case.

As a sailor: Well, Cunningham was a colleague, and an
inventive one, and that deserves some respect.

--
Peter S/Y Anicula



"Simple Simon" skrev i en meddelelse
...
You are on the right track. For the answer go to
uk.rec.sailing
and see my reply to the 'Reason why Columbia beat Sceptre'
thread.

Oz is clearly clueless.


"Peter S/Y Anicula" wrote in
message
...
I'll have a guess at this one:
Because it allows you to have a bigger mainsail for the
same
measured sailarea than if you used the halyard to the
same
purpose.

Another advantage is that it is takes less power to
tighten
the cunningham than it does to tighten the halyard. This
makes it usable on cruisers as well.

There are other factors but I don't think that matters
much.
To mention one thing, it also stresses the leach if you
use
the halyard, but that can be compensated by the tension
of
the boom vang or by adjusting the traveller.

--
Peter S/Y Anicula



"Simple Simon" skrev i en
meddelelse
...
Let's see if you are a real sailor and can answer this
question without looking up the answer.

Why was the Cunningham invented?




"Capt. Mooron" wrote in message
...
Briggs Swift Cunningham Jr. the captain of the
winning
yacht in the 1958
America's Cup has passed on to the pearly gates. In
1958
he invented the
"cunningham"......
Amazing but true facts of sailing.

CM