OzOne wrote:
On Thu, 27 May 2004 17:46:20 +1200, Navigator
scribbled thusly:



But a good dinghy sailor should have known this. Regardless of what you
may say, the cunnignham will always flatten the sail.



Nope, sorry Nav, it won't "always" flatten the sail.
It will draw the draft forward to make the sail appear flatter to the
wind and will certainly flatten the sail when "pulled very hard" to
induce mast bend.


S'funny how you keep saying flatten... It wall also remove horizontal
wrinkles... That's flattening too.

Cheers

OzOne wrote:

On Wed, 26 May 2004 21:07:34 -0400, DSK
scribbled thusly:



Bending the mast with the cunningham... on monohulls with more or less
conventional rigs... is a new one on me. Cats use what is basically a
very powerful cunningham to bend the mast, but their rigs are very
different.



Wouldn't want to try bending the mast with cunningham on Navvys boat.



Really? I use use the backstay actually as I said.

Cheers

DSK wrote:

OzOne wrote:

Wouldn't want to try bending the mast with cunningham on Navvys boat.


Careful, Oz, next he'll be calling you a sore loser!

I wonder if you should adjust the runners before bending the mast with
the cunningham?


So, you've never used a cunningham to bend the mast or flatten the sail
on any of the hundreds of boat you've sail so expertly. Interesting.


Cheers

OzOne wrote:

On Thu, 27 May 2004 23:41:38 +0100, "Donal"
scribbled thusly:

That web page gave me the impression that you had to adjust the mast rake
*during* some races!!

It's illegal to move the mast butt during a race.


Oz1...of the 3 twins.

What's a "mast butt"?

LP (on topic for once)

OzOne wrote:

On Fri, 28 May 2004 00:22:31 -0500, "Lady Pilot"
scribbled thusly:


OzOne wrote:

On Thu, 27 May 2004 23:41:38 +0100, "Donal"
scribbled thusly:

That web page gave me the impression that you had to adjust the mast
rake
*during* some races!!

It's illegal to move the mast butt during a race.


Oz1...of the 3 twins.

What's a "mast butt"?

LP (on topic for once)


The base of the mast.
It fits into a step that has a slide attached so the stepping position
can be moved fore and aft thru about a 6" range by turning a
jackscrew.
It gives us the ability to alter the mast rake according to the
conditions to better balance the boat with a given sail setup.

I think if you would explain this while I was onboard, I could grasp it
without a problem.. I understand logically...but practical always beats
*it* out...

Thanks for the explanation,

LP

Navigator wrote:
So, you've never used a cunningham to bend the mast

On beach cats, sure. But they call it a downhaul, and the rig is quite
different.

... or flatten the sail

No. The cunningham doesn't flatten the sail...

although your little twist about removing wrinkles, I suppose that is
flattening the sail, just like an iron "flattens" a shirt.

Bending the mast flattens the sail. It also moves draft aft, so most
often the cunningham is used to pull draft forward again.


on any of the hundreds of boat you've sail so expertly. Interesting.

Do you really find expert sailing interesting? It appears you are mostly
interested in pedantry.

DSK

"Lady Pilot" wrote in message
| Thanks for the explanation,

Well Darlin' .... I may not be able to "adjust my Mast Butt".... but I can
assure you it wouldn't be noticed while the whales are breaching off the
starboard bow on a navy blue sea with emerald islands beckoning you with
their white sand beaches.

CM

Yup... 3 sheets to the wind... but I've earned every drink this week. ;-D

CM

Look at the chart for mainsail tune and note that we rely a lot on top
batten to indicate position of the leech on the rest of the sail.
Closed leech will help us climb in anything above light air up to a
fresh breeze.
In light it's laid off to promote flow and reduce stalling, Heavy it's
open to ease leech pressure.

One thing that chart doesn't make clear- are they talking about angle
relative to the boom or to centerline of the boat?

Also important is what they say about the top leach telltale. This is
the key to air flow vs pressure. I think this is going to be a good
starting guide for any boat with roughly similar aspect ratio & SA/D
ratio to the Etchells. I'm guessing Donal's boat is heavier (but
possibly not that much so) and will want the top leach telltale stalling
a little more of the time.


BTW this is a North guide, my setup is a little different.
Note just how finicky the Etchells is to setup and YES, we do change
the entire rig setup every race.

A lot of work, eh? But you can always race Lasers if you get sick of it!


Donal wrote:
That web page gave me the impression that you had to adjust the mast rake
*during* some races!!

AFAIK that's illegal. You want the mast raked going upwind, standing up
straight or even raked forward going downwind. Some early IMS boats had
mast butt rams with about 3' of throw, I know of one that had a hinge to
achieve this.

I don't know why so many classes make this illegal, other than it's an
expensive PITA and puts the whole rig at risks. But no clases I can
think of allow you to move the mast step during a race and rather few
allow adjusting the partners... apparently Etchells do... don't know if
you're allowed a "puller," Lightnings ruled this illegal and the class
has to restate the rule every few years as people cleverly invent new
ways to do it.

Donal I wanted to read Oz's link before commenting further. It looks
like a great guideline for a fast keelboat, except that they apparently
pull the backstay on rather early. If you get the leach telltales
working like they say, then use the traveler to control heel & helm,
you'll be either right in the groove or pretty darn close. I like to
leave the backstay off until the traveler is way down but it's something
to experiement with.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

"Capt. Mooron" wrote:

Well Darlin' .... I may not be able to "adjust my Mast Butt".... but I can
assure you it wouldn't be noticed while the whales are breaching off the
starboard bow on a navy blue sea with emerald islands beckoning you with
their white sand beaches.

Of course, I'm sure I wouldn't notice. When would be convenient for you?
;-)

LP

"Lady Pilot" wrote in message

| Of course, I'm sure I wouldn't notice. When would be convenient for you?
| ;-)

It's not me I'm aiming to please Darlin.......... ;-)

CM