Annie,
maybe I have grown to be a half-decent helmsman after all these years, but I think it is more the boat than the man this time. When I had Johanna, I sailed a couple of times in company with a Nordic Folkboat. When close-hauled, the same thing happened: The Folkboat sailed 2-4° (I just guess) higher, while Johanna drifted to leeward.
Last year, during the first trial sails of Ingeborg, she went well, but not that well. Then I thought that I would have a hard time with keeping up with that Folkboat. I must have under-estimated the effect of the moderately foul bottom she had then. Now, after slipping, she really flies in light winds so I guess she and the Folkboat will be quite equal.
My reasoning behind choosing an IF as a JR project was that I knew about their pointing ability. All they needed was a bigger rig for light winds to overcome the higher wetted surface. Ingeborg’s JR area is the same as the IF with Genoa 1, so is not extreme in any way.
There is another thing to consider - the sheeting and twist.
Ingeborg has been given the same ‘Johanna sheeting’ as my previous boats (see Junk Rig for Beginners, p.5). This has a very good anti-twist effect. As can be seen on the photos, there is just that little bit twist in her sail, both when sailing upwind and downwind. In fact, when sailing close-hauled, with full sail set, I use to monitor the leech telltale of the upper panel. This indicates separation a moment before the others. Keeping the whole sail working, is in my view important to get the best out of a sail.
The Johanna sheeting takes up quite some room so if there simply is not enough of it, I would split the sheet in an upper and lower part. I think one would be paid back handsomely in performance for the extra complexity of handling two sheet tails, in particular when the sail is reefed.
Arne
On the photo below you can see how I tame the long sheet bundle on Ingeborg: A rope loop is lying ready on the side deck so as soon as the sail has been dropped, I clip it around the bundle.
