How pointy is a pointy sail, and how bad is it?
Somehow ‘pointy’ has become synonym with draggy in this JRA world. I can understand that a Bermuda-sail with little roach does not produce much drive near the top, but even a pointy junkrig, like that of Ingeborg, is much less pointy than the original rig.
The yard-less JR that David Dawes shows us, needs not be bad, except that both sails appear to be flat. My main argument against that yardless version is that without a yard, two panels are reefed away from start. That is actually my strongest argument for keeping Hasler and McLeod’s moderately high-peaked sails; one gets more area and longer luff for a given mast length.
I have been out on day-trips the last two days. The wind has varied between very light to a good breeze. Yesterday, as the day before, we sneaked out under full sail, and returned a few hours later, boiling along with two reefs in the sail. I surely am glad for every square meter, and also for dividing the area into seven panels. Just look at Roger Taylor’s Mingming II. He is anything but a fair-weather sailor, but he is still happy with the big, 'pointy' JR (with a very stout mast) for his voyages to the north.
I have recently fitted extra telltales at the leech of the two upper panels. These indicate a nice, attached airflow when sailing on the wind, and it is not difficult to keep those telltales flying (..if I over-sheet the sail, they all fall behind the sail..).
Finally, read in NL 29 about the flat-topped Hi-Power rig and what happened when they added a 3-panel fanned top to it.
Arne
