"Edgar" wrote in message
...
I have sailed many different types of dinghy with luff rope grooves in wood
and metal masts and have never seen one with enough excess space to even
begin to do that.

Lookie he

http://www.dwyermast.com/families.as...cat1Name=Masts

Note the various amounts of space within the rope luff grooves.

Sounds like a recipe for major jam-ups, quite apart from weakening the
mast
in fore and aft bending mode.

The strength of the mast is determined by its moment of inertia. If the luff
rope groove space can weaken a mast, just think of what the hollow main
section of the mast should do. But it doesn't.


Many dinghies have masts which are considerably adjustable in bending and
your scheme would allow the slot to gape open and let the luff rope come
out.

The volume behind the slot has no effect on the slot width as a function of
bending. The slot must hold the rope luff no matter what. You could design a
mast extrusion that performs as you say, but who would use it?


Edgar

"Bob Crantz" wrote in message
news
It is very possible if the channel behind the slot for the rope luff is
larger in diameter than the rope.



"Edgar" wrote in message
...
Jon. if you hoist a sail where the luff rope is held in a groove in the
mast
there is nowhere for the luff rope to go except out of the groove when
you
lower the sail.
Maybe you had a track with slides and with that you can certainly flake
the
sail, leaving the slides bunched together on the track.
This is how it works on a larger boat but on a dinghy with a mast
grooved
for the luff rope you cannot lower the sail with the rope still held in
the
groove,-unless, of course, you are just talking about leaving the head
board
and the top foot or so of the sail in the groove while you flake the
rest
that has come out.
Edgar


"Capt. JG" wrote in message
...
Edgar, I didn't have to remove my main when I had that kind of luff. I
flaked the sail on the boom without a problem. All you have to do is
pull
the sail slightly aft as you lower and flake it.