Jami,

Jib cord is 1090 mm, main cord is 2530 mm, mast slot is 170 mm.

Camber both mains and jibs 10%. Mains have 90 degree shelves.

Jibs as per instructions.

Very hard to compare sail shape from a photo Jami, but this sail goes to windward very well. Short chop and light boats requires power; we have unreefed in those conditions to get somewhere upwind.

Rudolf

Hi Jamie,

I've just found this thread and have noted some points here which will probably raise more questions. From the videos -

1. Luff of the main panels seems to be some distance behind the mast, and not alongside the centreline of the mast. The available drawings of the batten-parrel/ down-hauls are not ideal. If I remember properly the latest version starts by tying the end to the batten some half to three-quarters mast diameter behind the main luff, going round the mast and over the batten, before down the outside to level with the bottom of the lower batten. Here it goes through a thimble, nylon in my case with the burrs removed, up over the lower batten and round the mast to tie off the same half to ¾ mast diameter behind the main luff. The downhaul is tied off to the thimble.

2. I can't remember how wide you have made the split but the mast diameter looks to be almost the same, so in the present set-up could be blocking the airflow.

3. I appreciate the easy construction of the separate panels and the 'hinge' along the battens, but there is undoubtedly an air leak and a loss of pressure here across the sail. I don't know how much the loss might be, but it certainly will not help the performance, and may cause unwanted turbulence on the leeward side.

4. In the videos the jibs look fairly flat and not very cambered. Similarly, the leech of the jibs seem to be fairly 'close in', and it looks as if you are not getting a very wide 'sheeting angle'. It's impossible to tell this from pictures.

5. It's difficult to see how close you are sheeting the rig in towards the centreline in the videos. I found that I could sheet very closely as on a cruising Bermudan rig and still be driving, but I had a VGM meter on the bulkhead which was a great help in evaluating the rig, and a great help in getting the best performance. Once I got used to the closer sheeting then I didn't need the VMG meter.

6. The Galleon hull and keel shape are probably not the greatest for close hauled performance, particularly is a short sharp chop. Poppy was a bit of a 'blunt punt' when faced with the wind against tide 'Solent chop', but the keel was quite good. Even so, I rarely got a chance to compare the performance against cruising Bermudan boats as they always motored in those conditions. In the Island Races we could stay with similar performance hulls, but I was always sickened to see the FolkBoat derivatives just slice through the chop as each small but steep wave hit like a heavy rubber hammer. There are hull shapes and hulls shapes, and the Galleon is not a FB!

7. I can't remember what percentage balance you have ended up with, but it may be a little short of the optimum. The jib chord id 80 cm, but what is the width of the split and what is the main chord?

8. How clean is the hull bottom. It takes very little growth to make a big difference.

Some of these points will undoubtedly degrade you performance but by how much, and which are the most important are difficult to suggest from the videos. The SJR boats I've sailed have all shown close hauled performance at least as good as their cruising Bermudan cousins, and better performance on all other points of sail. By sheeting in very tightly it is possible to outpoint Bermudan rigs, but the VMG will fall off. Even so, it is handy to be able to pinch under control in a a narrow channel or past a moored boat.

By the way, I suggest one top panel and without a split for ease of sailmaking and to allow for slight inaccuracy in sail-making. I've only built one rig with a split in the top panel and found it critical to make, and with the tapered height it was not so easy to calculate the camber and sheeting angle.

What do you think,

Cheers, Slieve.

Jami,
Would it be possible to only remove the middle jiblet and install a temporary version instead, which can be adjusted with respect to slot opening? 
This could give you some answers.

Arne

David,

Valuable thoughts, thanks.

On the videos we are pointing as high as we can. Just a pinch more and the whole sail would collapse.

I can’t see a way to move the panels on the battens, because there is no extra room. This would mean squeezing the panels and thus losing the shape.

Thanks to the hinged system of the panels, I could increase the sheeting angle by making new hinges, no new jibs would be needed. However, I wonder if I might as well make 10-20 cm longer jibs.