David T has some good points.

Frankly, my pottering about in protected or half-protected waters tells nothing about how it will work offshore.

However, many others have made long voyages with cambered panel sails. Alan in Zebedee did it both under flat sails and cambered ones, and I never heard any regrets from him. In addition, Pete Hill and Linda C.-G. in Kokachin did the big Atlantic tour, and it appears that Kokachin's windward performance was good indeed, and handling of the sails offshore was not  that hard either.

I may have been jabbering too much about windward performance. The cambered junk rig also adds a lot more brute power when pointing at any angle from a broadish to a close reach.  That video clip of Ingeborg on a beam-to-broad reach tells a lot:

IF Ingeborg

The wind here is only 10knots, or 12 at most. There is no way Ingeborg would have jogged along at 6-6.5kts under a flat sail.

Another reminder: In Stavanger there was for over 20 years the 49ft, 25ton (70+37sqm) Samson, with a long keel and fixed 3-blade propeller. That vessel sailed smartly, even in lightish winds. If you bother with reading Slieve McGalliard’s report from the Stavanger rally in 2004 (Magazine Jan 2005), you will see for yourselves.

Cheers from the Wheelchair Admiral
(.. hopefully on crutches from next week…),

Arne

I would agree with David Tyler's assessment, and it certainly is what I took as given in my comments about flat-cut sails - that their disadvantages are less significant when sailing offshore, especially if one is sailing predominantly in tradewind routes, or aboard heavy, beamy, long-keeled yachts, as I do.  Given my experience, first with a cambered sail, then with a flat-cut one on Arion, I am keenly aware of the loss of performance when I switched to the flat-cut sail, when I was inshore.  I only did it because I could not find a sailmaker in Sydney willing to make me a cambered junk sail.  I only found ONE sailmaker willing to make me a flat-cut sail!  Arion was not a windward flyer in open water, due to the heavy, beamy hull, and the cambered sail did not make a lot of difference once there were developed wind waves well forward of the beam in open waters.

Nonetheless, I will be fitting a cambered sail on Arion II when I convert in a year or so, despite the boat being in the heavy-displacement, long-keeled category, because I enjoy sailing smartly when inshore, plus, if the cambered sail is set up correctly, I find it offers no disadvantage offshore.

Nonetheless, people like Shirley Carter continue to demonstrate that flat-cut sails are good enough for open-ended cruising (where you don't have a schedule), if you have a laid-back enough mindset!  I still think Kurt jon Ulmer of mehitabel fame, has a point!

Thank you Arne, one day when we need to refresh the reg I may get cambered sails however for now since these were done prior to my takeover of the project I will just have to make do. 

I noticed the flag in the video. Great demonstration by the way, very neat. Our first big trip will be up towards your direction from Cardiff to Copenhagen in August. I am sure those North Westerly Winds will put those sails to a good test (not that I will ever intend to catch them). 

Dara wrote:

Grahamwrote:

I'd say they were flat-cut.  Given the displacement of the boat and the relatively small sail area (It feels weird to say that about an 80 sq m mainsail, but it is a very big vessel!), I think it will need to motorsail to windward in winds under 15-20 knots, so the flat-cut sails won't be too much of a disadvantage, and will be quite adequate from a close reach to a broad reach.  I look forward to seeing and hearing more about this boat's sailing trials.  It looks like a comfortable ocean cruiser!

Graham, you are spot on. The battens are made from fibreglass and stretch out the sail. It was designed as a flat cut sail. 

We will have to see how she performs in a few weeks when we do the first sea trial. On the one hand, this boat is primarily made and being refitted for long distance cruising rather than racing. Due to the size and weight it will never catch enough air with this Sq m of sail to gain impressive speeds, and we will likely need to use the engine if sailing close to windward or in light breezes. 

On the other hand, the total sail area is the same as the original Bermudan rig with the main and genoa as far as I understand so it may perform better than expected. Harvest is an interesting underwater shape with a good balance between performance and comfort. On the motor, it feels like handling a boat much smaller in size. 

That's true. A big ship.