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In article . com,
wrote:

Its 2005, why do we still have to do this silly pointing into the wind
to get the main up or down or to reef it. Surely someone could come up
with a way to reef or get the main up or down on any point of sail. I
know most sailors are conservative but I am not so if ya got any ideas
let me know.

We can drop our main under most points of sail by centering the boom.
It's easier when the wind is forward of the beam, of course.

There are other rigs not mentioned so far that would make it possible.
One that comes to mind that I've only seen one example of is where the
boom and jib are sort of on a turntable. Turning one (big) screw trims
both sails. The sails can be head to wind as the boat's running
downwind. Seemed like a good idea, but there must be some impracticality
to the rig.

Someone was experimenting with a wing mounted vertically. Supposedly,
the sail could be put into "freewheel" mode and it'd have less drag than
a conventional mast & stays. Again, could rotate 360. Again, sounded
like a great idea as I've seen how much more efficient a double-surface
wing is than a single-skin, but haven't seen it on a boat.

I'll add something I'm surprised no one's tried: a double-surface sail.
Perhaps two sails in tracks on either side of a rotating mast? Only the
leeches would be joined.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/