Thanks Arne - on my Freedom my LHP went first to the yard and then round the mast to the second batten. I will try this on the Vision and other variations. 

Well my Red Fox Vision now has a jointed junk sail, and the first sail yesterday went well. Thanks to you all for your advice and encouragement. 

I have the joints at 30/20/50.  When the wind fell to force 2 the battens did not articulate correctly - in fact I had negative camber on all hinges & all battens.(Only of the one tack wher sail pressed against mast) My LHP goes to the front of the battens - about 6 inches for'd of sail - would it be better to bring the attachment points aft? When I slacked the LHP the sail went lifeless with no camber at all. On my freedom I would get camber in light airs but I would pull the yard right back so there was no sail balance - something I cannot do on the Vision. Would welcome any suggestions please.

Arne Kverneland wrote:

Annie, which boats with JR have you actually sailed with two degrees aft mast rake? You sailed half-way to the moon in Badger (plumb masts?). Was that so bad?

There will be a bit difference, of course, but I cannot see that a couple of degrees aft rake needs to be a show-stopper. Second-best - and theoretically wrong - options are often good enough. Keeping the sail, yard, battens and boom as light as possible helps, though.

Arne

I'm not suggested that rake aft or plumb masts are a show stopper, but if you are starting from scratch and can put some forward rake in the mast, you might be happy that you did.  Of course, your chosen cruising ground makes a big difference, but often N Island summer days start with very light winds that increase to a pleasant sea breeze.  With on onshore swell bouncing off the shoreline, you get a very sloppy sea and with very light wind, the sail will want to flop around.  Hence my desire for a raked mast.  If you rarely encounter these conditions, then you'll probably wonder what I'm fussing about.

Annie, which boats with JR have you actually sailed with two degrees aft mast rake? You sailed half-way to the moon in Badger (plumb masts?). Was that so bad?

There will be a bit difference, of course, but I cannot see that a couple of degrees aft rake needs to be a show-stopper. Second-best - and theoretically wrong - options are often good enough. Keeping the sail, yard, battens and boom as light as possible helps, though.

Arne

I have no worries with an aft raked mast having owned a Colvic 28 with a 48osq ft low aspect sail. The mast had a considerable aft rake noticed by me but not the sail.