I see this all the time, sail all crunched up on the rails. IIRC even
Robs head sail is cut this way.



A higher cut can clear the rail, but you lose effective sail area on
some tacks and the sail is less useful off the wind in many cases
(less of an issue for Hunters, some fractionals and of course Freedom
boats!) Look at this pic for an example....

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...5/HeartNEW.jpg

This is just before a tack, so you can't really see the sail properly
trimmed, but I think you can see it's a somewhat high cut. It's a 125%
sail. It still catches the rail on some positions and hard on the
wind it may need help coming inboard. The higher cut on a fractional
loses downwind ability and puts the COE up, also effecting balance. I
have a new standard cut 155% coming Thursday that will certainly liven
up the ride well off the wind. It's a deck sweeper and my furler is
below deck.
Hey, you can cut a sail for performance, ease of use...or a little of
both if you're just out there to have fun. I'm pretty happy with my
sails. We've had the chance to sail with a lot of boats and Heart of
Gold is usually the faster boat. She stayed in there with the Santana
and a J30 and on a reach a J40 wasn't going anywhere either.


RB
35s5
NY