Ok, time for an autumnal update. I will not lift the boat up for the winter until the freezing sea forces me to, though.
I haven't been able to sail us much during this season as I was hoping to. But more than nautical miles, I was able to gather different sea states and wind conditions.
I'm not a very organized person, so these are just some thoughts without any measurements or skillful engineer analytics.
THE RUDDER
The new rudder and skeg -combination has been a success. The worst of the weather helm has been eliminated, and the boat steers much more stable. Of course one has to remember that the rudder can not change the characteristics of the hull itself.
Using dyneema lashings and giving generous balance area made steering very light even in strong following winds. The self steering system is happy.
However, the quite big angle (given by the angle of the transom) has given some trouble with self steering, but nothing that can't be fixed.
I also might have lost some speed in the process, but this was to be expected.
THE MAST AND SAIL
The new, lighter topmast is also a great success. The difference in the momentum can be felt really well, when e.g. hitting waves. Despite the lightness and tapering to as low as 60mm diameter, I haven't noticed anything that would worry me. Not even when I have sailed with full sail in way too strong winds (which of course one shouldn't do - naughty me).
The SJR sail on the other hand has left me with somewhat mixed feelings. This is more obvious after the second season, because now I have a topmast with less windage.
Although my sail hasn't got as much balance as adviced by Slieve (33%), together with the new rudder the aggresive weather helm is solved.
For next season I will fiddle with the sticking downhauls (my fault). After several different sheeting versions I now have a twin-sheeting system, which seems to control the sail well (despite the annoying amount of ropes).
On the downside, the performance of the sail itself has been some kind of disappointment. One has to remember that I have an Arne/Johanna style sail to compare to on the same hull.
A disclaimer is needed, anyway: I have changed the rudder and the mast, and all of my impressions on the performance are impressions only with no hard data.
The point of disappointment is the tacking angle and boat speed when close hauled. If I compare these to the impressions in my memory with the Arne-style sail, the SJR doesn't seem to be an improvement - on the issue of tacking angle, it might even be a step backwards.
A typical tacking route with the old sail:
And with the SJR:
Disclaimer #2: If I indeed have stepped back in the upwind performance, it is almost certainly because of my own doings as a sailmaker or sailor.
QUESTIONS AND MEDITATIONS
I think the problem (if there is one) lies in the jibs. See this video, and this too. On these, we sail with three and four panels pointing as high as we can.
As you can see especially in the backlit sail, the telltales are flying nicely. However, the main panels are starting to collapse. On the lowest panel one might put the blame on the too loose downhaul, but on the upper ones this is not the case.
The same phenomena can be seen when sailing with the full sail up, but I haven't got a proper video of that.
I have understood that the jibs should collapse before the mains. On these videos (and in life) there is no sign of it when the mains start flapping.
So, a few options come to mind:
a) The sheeting angle of the jibs is too small
b) The jibs are too small/flat
c) There's something wrong on the top panels
e) The aggressive weather helm was needed to point well
d) There's something wrong with the mains
e) I'm a lousy sailor
The sheeting angles are made as Slieve suggests (was it 12 deg?). There should also be enough camber (also made as suggestion on the instructions).
My own theory is this: the chord length of the jibs is only 80cm, and the lower mast is 120mm. The 12 deg sheeting angle doesn't create a big enough slot - especially to work well with the mast, maybe not even to work well enough on the "good" tack.
Could the short chord length also mean that the jib doesn't form a physically big enough form for the camber?
I could fix the a) by adding gradually longer "hinges" on the jibs. The b) would need making new jibs and possibly extending the battens 10-20 cm on the forward end.
On the point c) one must notice, that I haven't followed Slieve's sail shape. I have two top panels instead of only one, and they are both split, whereas Slieve suggests a continuous top panel. Have I made something stupid?
The only thing on d) that I can think of, is maybe too loose luffs. However, to my eye this doesn't seem to be a problem at least most of the times.
On the e) I have nothing to say, except that the weather helm was impossible to live with (especially for self steering). Anyone?
And then we have the f)-factor. This is something that would need lots of meditation and possibly accepting things as they are...
PS.
I have also had to question the light, small boat issue vs. the sailing conditions I have. The force of the waves (not the long ocean ones but the smaller, denser, misbehaving shallow-sea ones) seem to be the thing that makes sailing against the wind more miserable than any sail issue. I might have too light a boat for my conditions - but then again I don't want a bigger one. More daoist meditation needed, I guess.
