Optimum is a fuzzy concept.. Optimum for what ?

Day-sailing vs passage making different optima apply.

The fatigue that you have in a small light boat in a seaway may impact your
ability to concentrate, and the compromise on size vs speed is still pretty
much as given in a conventional design. Perhaps the Tri and cat sailors have
something in the speed that allows them to sail in bursts. The Round the
world single handers do seem to have gone to the type specific fast light
boats but I would not want to own one...

I have a 20,000lb 40 ft boat with long keel and centerboard, with a 29 ft
waterline and a yawl rig with low aspect ratio (hoist 37 boom 17) main,
rating PHRF 174. The genoa sheet loads max in the 2000 lb range based on the
Harken calculations (http://www.harken.com/blocks/loads.pdf) and the winches
need to be sized for that. If I was going to seriously singlehand, I would
probably go for a Cutter/yawl for most flexibility of rig and redundancy.


With a two speed Mainsheet (4:1 and 16:1) I can trim everything with modest
strength (I am 6' 220lbs) and more important my theoretically 105 lb girl
friend can as well. (current women friends are a bit more robust S)

The heaviest job on board is hauling the 55lb anchor and 50ft of chain, but
the windlass does that nicely, backed up by the cockpit winches if needed.

--
Sheldon Haynie
Texas Instruments
50 Phillipe Cote
Manchester, NH 03101
603 222 8652