Anonymous wrote:

I've been curious about Shirlz's decision to go back.  She cites two things:  she hated the baggy look, and the cambered sail required more maintenance.  And she's got more experience and capability than I'll ever have.

1) In matters of aesthetic taste, there can be no arguments.  If someone doesn't like the look of their home, it can really wear on them.  I like the look of cambered sails and actually dislike the flat look.  I've spent too many years around airplanes and jet engines to see anything but drag and inefficiency in flat foils.

2) Others have found that a camber sail doesn't necessarily lead to higher maintenance if particular steps are taken in the design. 

It really would be so little effort to put some camber in.  But horses for courses.

I don't get the worry about the baggy looking cambered sails.  If you wanna look at ugly, have a look at a typical pointy end rig cruising boat with some of the junk they carry on deck and aft.  Their boat looks like a floating chandlery.   
A bit of bagginess in my JR rig until the wind fills in doesn't bother me.  Of course, purely an opinion, and each to their own :-)

Paul wrote:

I would ask David Tyler to re post his excellent formula for  calculating the batten angle with cambered panels which works perfectly.

I've been curious about Shirlz's decision to go back.  She cites two things:  she hated the baggy look, and the cambered sail required more maintenance.  And she's got more experience and capability than I'll ever have.

1) In matters of aesthetic taste, there can be no arguments.  If someone doesn't like the look of their home, it can really wear on them.  I like the look of cambered sails and actually dislike the flat look.  I've spent too many years around airplanes and jet engines to see anything but drag and inefficiency in flat foils.

2) Others have found that a camber sail doesn't necessarily lead to higher maintenance if particular steps are taken in the design. 

It really would be so little effort to put some camber in.  But horses for courses.

Hi, I have just been asked by Arni for an update on our cambered panel sails - which to start with Mo and I were not happy with. However now having sorted the problems we would not have anything else. I will write about all our findings over the next few days and post it here but I do need your patience as we are out sailing and will be drying Ti Gitu out to clean the bottom.

I would ask David Tyler to re post his excellent formula for  calculating the batten angle with cambered panels which works perfectly.

Robert wrote:

 Here is a question: has anyone done cambered sails and regretted the change on a cruising boat.  Thanks Wade