"Skip Gundlach" wrote...
I had an opportunity to sail on two boats of the same hull in the last
few weeks. One had a three-point system (two multi-purchase blocks -
about the same hardware as a vang - secured to the opposing ends of the
cabin roof and the end of the boom), and the other a traveler, for the
main.

The surveyor likes the three-point, saying that's all they use on the
serious racers, as it gives a great deal more control to the sail shape.

That guy is so full of crap his eyes were probably brown.

"Serious racers" use a three point mainsheet? I guess that leaves out
the America's Cup boats, one-design boats, IMS boats, Melges 24s, sleds,
J-105s, screaming multihulls, etc etc. In fact I can't think of one boat
that is even partly race-oriented that uses a three point mainsheet system.

With two seperate tackles to opposite sides, as you seem to imply, you
can indeed get more or less leach tension on the mainsail. But to trim
the sail you have to adjust both lines. With a traveler, you can set the
leach tension as you want it, and then just run the travler back and forth.

Actually, a really good system is a bridle & vang. If you look at
"serious racers" among small boats like Int'l 14s, 18-foot skiffs, and
the like, that's all you'll see. It's very light and easy to control.
But it hasn't caught on in big boats, probably because when the bridle
flops around it would tend to take big chunks out of things if scaled up
to say a 40 footer.

Skip, I'd ask you for the name of this surveyor but it might not be a
good idea on this forum. Just forward this to him by email, please.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King