My understanding is with the backstay eliminated you can have a larger, big
roach mainsail.

SV


"Bill Farina" wrote in message
...
Hunter Sailboats have something called a B&R "fractional rig" with swept
back spreaders. For the life of me, I can't figure out the advantage(s)
of
this design. On the downside, they seem to make running downwind
difficult
and create a high wind load. Any comments? Perhaps therein lies the
advantage. When you run downwind, you don't have to bother to put up a
sail.