Hello Arne.

I do apologise for causing you frustration. I think there is something that I have not made clear: replacing my sail at all is a low priority for me.

That is the reason I have not started sewing, not because I am diverted by other ideas. I continue to post ideas and results here when I can because they might be of interest and I very much appreciate the feedback and communication with other JRA members.

If you're interested in my to-do list you could look here: https://tammynorie.wordpress.com/to-do/

You also may not be aware that I'm suffering from a chronic illness that means I can't always do the things that I'd like. In particular I can often read, write, draw, and think but not build. When I'm well I work on the priorities.

So please, don't feel I'm wasting time. I truly appreciate your effort and input, but you must allow me to be master of my own limited time.

Richard Brooksby wrote:

.

I either have another type of boat or I must be going barking mad.....

Woof woof! Do you have port and starboard backwards in Dutch?

The starboard tack is the one where you have to stand on under COLREGS. When the wind is from the starboard side. When the boom is on the port side.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RMGOM7zYeY4/SbYAmmd_iHI/AAAAAAAABuQ/8kWyFnLXseE/s400/Starboard+Vs+Port+Tack.JPG

Anyways - I repositioned the second batten counting from the yard to allow the whole rig to move forward a bit more. Quite a succes. Only thing I did was to reattach the line that holds the batten to the mast (luff lacing?) NOT on the luff of the sail  but to use the eyelets in the sail. Consquently the whole rig seemed to be less prone to be drawn backward.

Those are the batten parrels if I understand you correctly. That is exactly what I have done.

It reduced required rudder input on the port tack by about 15 to 20 degrees. This was in a force 6-7 on the Markermeer going from Edam to Marken in fairly short

That sounds like you are having the same results. Great!

This is funny: what you guys call starboard tack, we call port tack and the other way around. we call it port tack as the sail is on the port side of the boat.

That solves a lot of mistery on this end. Thanx Richard!

Richard Brooksby wrote:

Annie Hill wrote:

Richard Brooksby wrote:

Incidentally, my port tacks are always better, when the engine is in the water. Less helm, faster in general. Perhaps it is acting as an extra skeg and keeping the CLR back a bit. That would be ironic. I'll try sailing without it and report back!

Most H/McL junks sail better on the port tack than on starboard, confounding one's prejudices that the sail will surely work better when it doesn't press against the mast.  I trust the same applies in your case and you can get that engine out of the water.

See the forum thread The Myth of the Bad Tack, for more on this.

Or I could temporarily rig my sail on the starboard side of the mast. Mischief.

Confusing stuff this.

Looking forward on my Coromandel the engine is on the starboard side aft. When I sail on the port tack - I lift the engine out of the water while healing. This is the tack where Siskin luffs mostly while working up wind.

On the Starboard tack, the sail is resting against the mast, the engine is in the water. It is on this course when Siskin has far fewer luffing tendencies.

I either have another type of boat or I must be going barking mad..... 

Anyways - I repositioned the second batten counting from the yard to allow the whole rig to move forward a bit more. Quite a succes. Only thing I did was to reattach the line that holds the batten to the mast (luff lacing?) NOT on the luff of the sail  but to use the eyelets in the sail. Consquently the whole rig seemed to be less prone to be drawn backward. 

It reduced required rudder input on the port tack by about 15 to 20 degrees. This was in a force 6-7 on the Markermeer going from Edam to Marken in fairly short steep waves.

Richard Brooksby wrote:

Incidentally, my port tacks are always better, when the engine is in the water. Less helm, faster in general. Perhaps it is acting as an extra skeg and keeping the CLR back a bit. That would be ironic. I'll try sailing without it and report back!

Most H/McL junks sail better on the port tack than on starboard, confounding one's prejudices that the sail will surely work better when it doesn't press against the mast.  I trust the same applies in your case and you can get that engine out of the water.

See the forum thread The Myth of the Bad Tack, for more on this.

Richard Brooksby wrote:

I managed to sail for a couple of hours today in Portsmouth Harbour with the new mast rake, but there was only a F3 wind and it wasn't very consistent, so I can't really draw any conclusions yet. That will have to wait until I can make some longer tacks. Hopefully soon.

I sailed some longer tracks today between Portsmouth and Ryde, just as I did earlier in this thread when testing rigging the sail far forward. Here's my track. The wind was again westerly F4/5 this time with a lee bow tide, which shouldn't affect the test. Sea state was slight as before, with white horses.

The sail was rigged as standard, but with the mast rake it likes to hang forward to the extent it can within the parrels. I'd estimate it was about 20% forward whereas I tested 25% forward before. So that's about 5% less sail forward but just under 5° forward rake.

The performance was similar to the first test with the sail tied forward. That is, an improvement on the factory position. I made 4kt with the self-steering set at about 65° off once I had things trimmed, and up to 4.5kt in gusts. Heeling was 15-20°. There was still weather helm similar to before.

But the single biggest improvement came on the second two tacks when I halved the top triangle, giving me a consistent 4.5kt and less weather helm. By contrast, reefing a bottom panel just slowed me to 3.5kt.

It seems that reducing the top triangle is a real winner.

The good news is there was no longer any reluctance to tack. In fact, she went round better than ever. So that's a win for rake.

Hauling the sail back immediately lost me about 1kt. I turned my upper luff hauling parrel into a general luff hauling parrel to test this.

So rake has duplicated the improvement of tying the sail forward, but without the disadvantages. Good.