Jerry Stebbing wrote:
David, when you say 'just the right spot' for the aft attachment of your short batten parrels, is this as shown in PJR, ie in line with the aft face of the mast, and a common parrel length based on the maximum mast girth?
The photos seem to show this as the sail's balance increases as the mast gets narrower, but did you just use the same parrel length on all battens and just let the sail find its own natural position, or are they different lengths for each batten?
The batten downhauls look from the photos to be attached at the same point as the aft parrel attachment, but the photo resolution isn't quite enough to be certain. Is this correct?
Yes, the right spot is in line with where you want the aft face of the mast to lie, and I had to experiment with the slackness, so that the sail would drop readily, and the mast would lie as planned with the halyard pulling it forward. I glued and screwed some 6mm HDPE strips to the battens to act as the bearing and also to position the aft ends of batten parrels. The distance from the luff increases towards the top of the sail, to bring the yard further forward so as to decrease the angle between halyard and mast. However, this distance is going to vary from rig to rig, according to the flexibility of the mast particularly, and also the sail shape, so I can't give any detailed guidance.
Yes, the downhauls are attached at the aft parrel attachment points.