Thanks Annie.
It was quite a relief to find that my Ingeborg performs at least in the same league as the FB to windward. It both did, and did not surprise me that La Barca did so well on the reach legs. That big, easily tuned mainsail is good, and Allan knows how to use it. (..neither the mainsail nor jib is ever stuffed in bags - Allan take the racing sails off and roll them up after each outing...)
I have crewed many times in La Barca on Wednesday races, and I can ensure you that the mainsail’s camber is being adjusted quite frequently. The clew is attached to a runner on the boom, and the clew outhaul is easy to operate - just pull a string. Then there is the aft stay tensioner and finally the diamond stay tensioner; a bottle screw on the front of the mast. This last one is generally only set up at rigging the boat, and it limits how much the aft stay can bend the mast. Since there is no time for reefing a sail during a short race, the ability to flatten the mainsail quickly, to depower it, is important.
In addition to this, the Folkboat has a ‘wall-to-wall’ mainsheet track, and as the photos shows, La Barca has quite a bit twist in its mainsail (I bet the mainsheet car has been pulled up to weather when close-hauled.). That twist does not just happen, but is an important part of the tuning of the sail, since the top section has no foresail in front of it.
This sounds complicated, but tuning the sails involves very little sweating, as these controls are quite light.
I still think that the Bermuda rig of the Folkboat is just about the best that has been designed for a little boat. Just look at the simple staying on the second photo of that write-up. The only, small penalty is that the mast section must be about 10% bigger than on similar rigs with lower and upper shrouds.
As for Ingeborg’s performance. I don’t think her extra sail area is of much help to windward. It is the length of the luff and amount (and shape) of the camber which decides the all-important drag angle. However, as the sailing angle to the wind is widened, the extra area pays back, more and more. During this match race, I learned to sheet in the sail harder on the reach, and just let the leech telltales collapse most of the time. On the wind, however, it is still best to have the telltales flying, or just flying, in light winds.
Before I make a new sail, I will hear from a JRA member in Denmark who is rigging his IF to a slightly revised JR sailplan, with shorter battens and with AR=2.00 (Ingeborg; 1.90). If that turns out to be good, I might make a copy of it, but with 10% camber.
Arne