Oh ye of limited imagination. Picture a nice full mainsail that fits
into the prescribed triangle. Now picture a sliding gooseneck on
the boom. Now, for going upwind haul down hard on the down
haul so the boom is about a foot lower than the prescribed
triangle allows. Voila! You have a bigger sail than allowed.


"Oz1" wrote in message ...
On Sat, 5 Jul 2003 12:26:59 -0400, "Simple Simon"
wrote:

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.

Hello,
How is it possible "to have a bigger mainsail for the same measured
sailarea " ?

Luff is measured, leech is measured, foot is measured and then
depending on the system used, usually a number of girth measurements.
This system measures the area of the sail.
Pulling on a cunningham doesn't change that!

Oh and how by pulling on the halyard do you "stress the leech"?
Unless of course you don't have a clue.

Oz is clearly clueless.

Hmmmm ya think?


"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










Oz1...of the 3 twins.
I welcome you to crackerbox palace,We've been expecting you.