DSK wrote:
...If you look at the picture lower down on the same page of the Shaw
25, the main is not eased very much...


Gary wrote:

It's out far enough to have the lee spreader pressing against it.


Where?
I see the shadow of the spreaders thru the sail, but I don't see any
place at all... even at the uppermost set... where the spreaders are
pressing inward on the sail. Look at the batten curve above the sail
number.
Lowers, wrinkles.



... Like Mr. Shaw says in his answer, "We run the gennaker on a tight
reach with the main inside out often so it's not doing much for you
then. "


I don't quite see this. The main can be totally flogging on a tight
reach and still have leach tension. And in the earlier discussion, we
weren't talking about a tight reach either.
My point is , the main provides the most support when sheeted tight.
His point is the main doesn't provide much lift, just balance.

In that photo, the main is certainly not holding the mast up


Of course not, there's a giant invisible hand


Gary wrote:

I think I have to go with the designers comments. He trumps you.


Sorry, I didn't realize it was a poker game. He also wasn't talking
about the same boat with the same rig.
Rig/boat design (racing) is a poker game. Those designs that have the
upper section snap off are bad designs. The sailing world is full of
crap designs.

Considering that a number of sport boats with frac rigs & mast head
chuts *have* broken their masts, it's kinda dumb to insist that it can't
happen. It's nice that Shaw's design incorporate cap stays to help keep
the mast together... maybe that's why he put them there.
Not nice but good design.

It's also stupid to insist that a boat (especially a performance boat)
should be totally bulletproof in all situations.
That is stupid. Nobody wants a boat that stays together in all
situations?????????

Back in the boom years,
a local aircraft company decided to cash in on their fiberglass molding
facility by building a small racing one-design... a cool boat (the
Skylark) but very heavy... over 200# for a 14 footer. My father and I
were invited to help intorduce them and we sailed them a bunch of
places, and I remember asking one of the builders 'why did you make the
hull so heavy?' and he replied that it was for strength. He said "The
first few ones we built, we did make them a lot lighter, but you could
just smash in the hull with a hammer and we wanted it stronger than that."

Ask Mr. Shaw if his boats are totally hammer proof.
??????

Fresh Breezes- Doug King