Branwen is just back in UK waters at the end of a 3 year cruise England - W Indies - Chesapeake Bay - W Indies - England. Her schooner rig has home - built cambered panel sails designed by Arne. The sails have proved satisfactory in almost all respects and are ready for further cruising.

If I make new sails in the future, I may decide to go for a high aspect rig as advocated by David. I can see numerous advantages in his ideas, but would need to fit taller masts. So I am happy with what I have and say thank you Arne, for sharing your designs with the rest of us.

Thanks also to David for your innovative ideas and the clever technical solutions you keep providing here.

Anonymous wrote:

Gary wrote:

David wrote:

Another way of assembling sail panels and pockets - like Arne's method, this can be done in a small room, but with a much better result.

Actually I like that. Not sure if I could fit them to my completed sail though it could be worth a try. The webbing loops work on my sail but it's not as tidy as pockets. Am I correct that the pockets have a built in back to them David?

No, I screw through eyelets into the batten at both ends.

David, do either you or I have the right to criticise Arne's work and say that it can be improved? I think not. He has developed and published a very easy way of building a rig which has worked well not only for himself, but also for his readers, and which should be encouraged. If we have questions then we should ask them as such and not claim greater expertise, because none of us can rightly do that.

Your paragraph which I quoted appears to be written to suggest that you have knowledge and expertise above the rest of us mere mortals, yet I feel that that should be challenged. I am aware of the 'pressures' having spent 5 years in academia and then been employed as a design engineer in one of the top projects in this country, and am well aware that even then we did not criticise each others work, but tried to learn from each other. At best, in the junk rig world we are all experimenters, and in reality none of us are in a position to criticise each others experimenters.

Yes, I am 'up in arms' as it would appear to me to be bad form to fire and leave a critical broadside in print and then turn round and say that we are really just friends. Yes, it is time to drop this dialogue, but question if the criticisms should be left in print.

Slieve.

Ladies and gentlemen

The conclusion of my last write-up might be called bold, big-mouthed and even cocky and provoking.  Still, I stand by it and let it be a challenge to you. Luckily I didn’t bet on it, so if (when) someone comes up with a faster JR, at least I don’t have to eat my hat.

Good luck, everyone!

Arne

David T wrote - “Have we started giving away free pairs of rose tinted spectacles with each JRA magazine, or something? Does no-one else cast a shrewd eye over things and assess where they are satisfactory, and how they can be made better? Or is it just that having been a designer for nearly fifty years, that is my default state? Anyway, you all know what I think about flat barrel-cut panels, and I'm clearly not getting many people to take in and understand the benefits of the short, low-angled yard and how it works, so I'll say no more, and continue to be the only one marching in step.”

Oh dear! I cannot believe what I'm reading. For years you have felt free to criticize other's efforts at experimenting, David, but now have risen to a new level. It's time to take off the polarizing lenses and replace them with clear view lenses. It is true that you have been experimenting with rigs for nearly 50 years, but from all that work it is difficult to see any obvious line of development followed or any resulting design and write up that anyone new to the rig would be advised to adopt.

Realising the weaknesses of the Bermudan rig, and after examining other rigs, Arne has taken the Hasler/ Mcleod (HM) rig and developed it through hinged battens and then cambered panels to a level that he has written up to provide an inexperienced amateur with all that is needed to build an efficient rig by the simplest methods. Such work is to be applauded, not criticized.

As for being the only one marching in step, in step with whom? Speaking from memory the new 'truth' of lower yard angles and shorter yards started when the split rig appeared, which also encouraged the use of broadseam. The complete lower shorter yard package included the tapering of the luff to balance the the forces from the taper of the leech to further reduce the stresses in the rig, so perhaps you're not quite in step yet.

We are all getting older and set in our ways, but that can be no excuse for such unwarranted criticism.

I may not be 100% happy with Arne's write up, and that is why I have been slow to respond to him. Any criticisms I may have will go directly to him in private so that we both can learn from the experience, and hopefully not embarrass either of us.

Slieve.