Comments to help assist you in overcoming your misconceptions are
interspersed below.


"Thom Stewart" wrote in message ...
Well Neal,

You're proven you inability to accept the truth about the action of a
"Wing Keel", the fact of a low profile PH, the advantage of a furler on
a cruising boat, and now the actual operation of your own Main Sail. The
scope of your known ignorance continues to grow. Explanation seems
hopeless.

You don't have a wing keel. You have a keel with end plates. In order for
it to be a wing keel the end plates must have a NACA foil section to them.
You have silly flat plates that are NOT wings.


I will try, once again, to enlighten you. Your SHELVE, it has excess
material so that as the foot of the sail forms its curve there is no
resistance applied by the shelve.

No resistance? Is that why the mainsail will stay put even if their
is only an aft force placed on the clew? If your argument was correct
the sail would also need downward force at the clew. Make no mistake,
a shelf-footed sail with a boltrope in the boom has it's shape maintained
by the foot and clew and not the clew alone as you suggest.

As you flatten your sail, the shelve
folds on itself. This is what I refereed to as an elastic action. If you
knew what the hell the shelve is doing you wouldn't be jumping to WRONG
conclusions.

I don't jump to wrong conclusions. It is presumptious of you to assume
you know more about my mainsail that I know about it. But, the do say
old farts get set in their ways so I forgive you your ignorance and
haughtiness.

Your sail's foot is only supported at the TACK and CLEW. You have the
same support as you would have if the sail was REEFED. There would be no
support from the Folded Part of the sail. That is the best example I can
think of right now.

Wrong, again. The foot is supported by the bolt rope as well as by the clew.
Do you forget all about air pressure?

Neal, your new main IS A FREE FOOTED sail/ with a shelve. Why can't you
understand that a shelve give no more support to the foot of the sail
than the reefed section of the sail

Why can't you understand you are looking it the entire picture and seeing
only a few pixels?

CN