Bill wrote:
looking at a freedom with a chamber spar jib.
any body have experience with that arrangement.
it looks easy to use but might be very limited on pointing ability;
so looking for any one with experience

Pointing ability depends on flat sails, narrow sheet angles, and
sufficient velocity to make the keel(s) work. Setting the right
amount of sail is important, as dragging around a bunch of draggy,
excess sail depowered and flogging does not help. A clean hull
helps, but in 20+ knots of apparrant wind, it's nowhere near as
important as these, when you get dug into the groove. To point well,
you must find out where the boat wants to go, then steer where you
want to go by adjusting your sails until the boat wants to go the
same place you do.

People ask me "Isn't a bilge keel rig SLOW?" All I can say is that
it doesn't seem slow when she's bashing along reefed at 40 degrees
of heel with one keel dry on top and planing, Billy.

Having a self tending jib with a club boom enables you to really
stretch the small jib flat and to sheet it exactly where you want
it, even really close to the centerline. Many boats can't set their
sails right, because of the rigging.

I see these twerps dragging a huge genny sheeted outside the shrouds
and then I pass them pointing higher with a reef in the main and my
mini automatic jib tuned to conditions and I laugh. It's like
driving a motorboat past them. Watching them trying go about in a
river makes me giggle, really.

What is a chamber spar? Is it a jib spar, a bowsprit foreward?
With a headstay? I would suggest a small jib and club boom, and a
quardruple reef in the main. Then, go chase Ivan, for a real sail.

Of course, in quiet air, a rarity, you would want a kite, non? For
that, you need only a spare halyard. If you get to the point where
you need a bowsprit too, quit the race and start the iron genny, or
row, or learn to roll tack, and have a square dance. An electric
outboard will get you miles and miles with a flat.

Terry K