Stavanger, Sunday

I was about to write a bit more about the upper luff hauling parrel, but I see now that Jonathan has explained it better than I ever could, so I only let you have the sketch I just made:

(..if this photo will not open automatically, it can be found under my Member Photo Album...)

The whole idea with the upper LHP is to force the top section aft into correct position. The sail will then hang nicely down from there without trying to fall forward. The tack parrel should be almost slack. With this LHP set up, the yard hauling parrel can be set up to take the sheet forces. Together these two parrels both fix the yard in the right fore-aft position and also keep it peaked up under load.

Needless to say, I find it a lot easier to set up the sail with the sheet flying than with wind in the sail.

Arne

PS: I hope this little photo doesn't corrupt the text. Click on it to make it bigger.

It was not told what sort of luff hauling parrel that was used on Fire Fox. If an ordinary LHP was used, i.e. acting on several battens down the luff, this will just make matters worse and increase the load on the Hong Kong parrels and battens.

The trick is to fit just an upper LHP which acts on the yard and batten no 1 or 2  -  in effect being a throat hauling parrel. With this one set up (and the yard hauling parrel against it) the lower panels will hardly need an extra LHP or just one that is lightly set up. It is here the Hong Kong parrels now come in  -  as light trimming lines with low load on them.

Wild Fox's rig otherwise looks good in my eyes, so with these easy fixes, I think things will improve.

Arne

PS: Like Gary K, I too would like to hear about the scantlings of the battens

PPS: BTW, the thinking behind moving the LHP up to the throat has been described in my little write-up, "Junk Rig for Beginners" found in my folder under the public pages. I think this throat hauling parrel is an important detail since, unlike the flat sails, the cambered panels have no built-in diagonal stiffness.

Here is an excerpt from correspondence between Annie Hill and Anthony Swanston, owner of Wild Fox, a Benford 37ft dory, which they have agreed may be published. It makes interesting reading.

(I've put a photo of Wild Fox in the Photo Gallery).

Hi Anthony,

I see you have cambered panels.  You definitely need to do something about the diagonal creases and I suggest fitting running luff parrels - a lot kinder than Hong Kong parrels.  It may make an appreciable difference to Wild Fox's performance.

Annie

Annie

We had correspondence about this when I was in Madeira in about October 2009.  The cambered sails were a mistake.  I do have a running luff parrel.  It did not take the creases out.  I fitted Hong Kong parrels and the tension on them broke the battens. I then put a slightly slack line from the luff end of the batten to the centre of the batten and attached the HK parrel to this - effectively spreading the load.  The batten still broke.

Story over.  Next time traditional flat sails...

You seem to have quite a bit more sail forward of the the mast than I have and perhaps that gives the running luff parrel more leverage to remove creases.  I told Alan Martienssen I was against cambers.  Even with the HK parrels the camber effect disappears as soon as you put a reefs in as the tension is progressively lost.  Your 2009 view that cambers are OK for inshore sailing would seem to be correct.

Until I am happy with the rig and the balance issue I am on the fence about crossing the Pacific - the boat is a hard mouthed pig downwind in 20 plus knots... 

Anthony

That's two ocean going schooners that have been disappointed with cambered panel sails. I think the common factor is schooner rig with high aspect ratio sails, and little balance area forward of the masts.