"Capt. NealŪ" wrote in message
Exactly correct. The designed shape of a mainsail for cruising does not
have
to be adjusted, either flattened or fattened in the normal wind range. My
mainsail
needs to be reefed around twenty knots on the first reef and around thirty
five
knots on the second reef.
Why does your boat have an outhaul, then?
Racers fool around with flattening sails but they argue about it. Some
claim a full
sail is best in light wind and others claim you should flatten the sail in
light wind.
I would be interested to hear why flattening the sail in light winds is
better than fattening it.
From the racing I've seen it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I
say,
keep the designed shape of the sail and don't fool around with it because
to
do so only makes it less efficient. How many airplane wings change their
shape
in the cruising speed range? Answer, none!
Invalid comparison. A plane wing that's designed for a slow plane is fatter
than one for a fast plane. Every plane fattens its wings, by means of the
flaps, for take-off and landing - much slower than its cruising speed,
whatever that might be. The range of winds that a sailboat might find itself
in doesn't equate to a notion of 'cruising speed range' - sailboats
experience a wide range of wind speeds. and have to set the profile of the
sail that's appropriate for the current wind speed. That's why they have
outhauls.
|