Dave Doran wrote, "As long as it doesn't carry more than the total sail area allowed to a Bermudan rigged boat, (ie, Mainsail, Genoa and Spinnaker), why not allow it to carry more sail than the upwind sail area allowed to a Bermudan rigged boat which has an additional sail to help it downwind?"

Oh Dave, if only life was that simple, but it ain't. The racing handicapping systems are built around the Bermudan rig. They place such high penalties on quadrantal sails that no-one uses them. They do not acknowledge the existence of 'foreign' rigs like Lateen or junk rig, and we are very lucky that the Island Sailing Club who organise the Round the Island Race have developed a watered down handicap system that allows owners to measure their own boats and apply for a simplified handicap. These handicaps are not particularly accurate as some owner seem to have elastic tape measures and very questionable weighing systems, and I suppose the entrants accept this as it would become expensive/ impractical to tighten the system up. Even with this simplified system the junk rig isn't really covered. When I first approached the club they filed Poppy as 'too difficult' to handicap, but they eventually accepted that I wanted to be compared with the standard Bermudan rig with the same area of full main and about a No.2 roller Genoa as that was the area of my rig, and that is what they kindly gave me.

I understand there are handicap systems that rate a Bermudan rig as slower overall when it carries a spinnaker and faster when raced without. There seems to be no sense in handicapping, and that there is no room in racing for the junk rig. If racing is your interest then you have to have a Bermudan rig. If you want a sensible rig then you have a good junk rig, and ignore the racing boys. All this still leaves us with the problem of comparing rig performance.

On Poppy I have found no need to have more sail area than that based on full Bermudan main and No.2 roller Genoa. In 4 knots of wind I can sail at 2 knots in any direction, when the Bermudan boats are almost stationary in the water. What more do I need?

Cheers, Slieve

Most Club races have a cruiser class, which is 'white' sails only.  JR should be reasonably competitive hear, especially as the BM often do not have the latest high tech sails.  It is also the cruiser folk that are natural JR converts.  So get out and show 'em.

cheers  Mark

Dave,
The point you highlight is the same which I put weight on: The ability to tune the camber of the Bermuda sails underway will give them a big advantage. In addition, most racing classes let you carry many sails on board and change to the one that fits the conditions best. In other words, these boats frequently carry (and pay for) more than twice the area that they actually set at one time. For this reason, the junkrig will rarely shine in a race fleet of Bm-rigged boats, in particular not if the race is over a triangular course. There you start at the lee mark and finish at the weather mark, which suits the Bm-rigs well. Remember also that the modern Bm-mainsails, with their big roach and almost square tops, are in a different performance league than those of the seventies and before. Therefore, one cannot expect that any of the present versions of JR will have better aerodynamics than modern Bm sails.

I think most readers of that article in PBO will interpret David Harding’s message as “the JR may be easily handled, but speed-wise it is still a sitting duck, compared to the Bm rig”. Worse: They will be right, as long as the junk-rigged boats race to the sail-area restricting rules.

Therefore, I keep preaching this gospel: Forget about the racing rules that favour the Bm rig. Pile on enough sail area to let you run fast downwind, and give the sail moderate camber, say 6 to 10%, to go well to windward without being overpowered too easily. The result is that you frequently will be spotted, charging along at full speed. This will turn necks and make people and reconsider.

Cheers, Arne

(Now, back to work  -  only one more panel to cut out...)

 

Just a thought. Bermudan rigged boats generally allow a much larger downwind sail (the spinnaker, which could double or more, total sail area) in addition to the upwind sail area specified in the rules. So the total sail area allowed to sail around the entire race course is far larger than just its upwind sail area. The Junk Rig doesn't have specialised upwind and downwind sails, just a sail. Could it be argued that, as the only purpose of sailboat racing is to get around the entire race course as fast as possible using the suite of available sails, the junk rig boat is being unfairly penalised by not being allowed to carry enough of its own style of sail area to compete on the entire race course in its own manner? As long as it doesn't carry more than the total sail area allowed to a Bermudan rigged boat, (ie, Mainsail, Genoa and Spinnaker), why not allow it to carry more sail than the upwind sail area allowed to a Bermudan rigged boat which has an additional sail to help it downwind? I appreciate that the ISA rules are designed principally with Bermudan rigs in mind. Generally speaking, more upwind sail area is only useful in lighter winds anyway, as in many situations, the extra sail area of a Junk Rig simply becomes too powerful as the wind increases and would have to be reefed down. Might it be worth discussing the point with the Round the Island or other race committees? Purely with the interests of advancing the development of sailing? David.

No problem, Edward ;-).

What about having the extra cruising panel(s) on Amiina (not allowed when racing) made in a contrasting colour and just keep it/them furled away when racing?

As for Marie G's data; Ketil can speak for himself. I haven't been much into the Marie G conversion  -  at least until recently: A while ago we had a sail together and afterwards I made a draft for a new 7-panel sail. This is a bit lower and broader, with an AR=2.00. The sail plan shows about how I think such a sail should be rigged these days: The slingpoint on the yard is moved about 5% aft of the middle of the yard, and the allowed angle of the halyard is up to 30 degrees from vertical. That decides the height of the mast.

Arne