Square Top Man Sail - M 17 and M 15
I just posted on Trailer Sailor about WHY I should not order a Square Top Main sail IF I was in the market for a new main sail. Now that fellow demo pilot Dan Phys has broken the sound barrier with his new M 15 e I am curious to know who else will follow. Seems to me there is no down side except we are not in range of the class rules and sailing head to head will always have an Asterisk behind that larger sail area. So WHY NOT evolve the flee? Seems to me the stock M15 or 17 could greatly benefit for this development. I hope Dr Judy of Bob Eeg chime in and tell me why this is not a good idea. BTW I am still waiting for a rotating mast to go along with that square top sail, its easily done, again why not and where is the draw back? M15 #616 Another Wrinkle Smiley and Karen magoo252@comcast.net
I think the square top main will be great on the M15. Dan's looks very good. The M17 has a back stay, so the square top main would not clear the stay. On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 6:17 PM, Karen and Smiley <magoo252@comcast.net>wrote:
I just posted on Trailer Sailor about WHY I should not order a Square Top Main sail IF I was in the market for a new main sail. Now that fellow demo pilot Dan Phys has broken the sound barrier with his new M 15 e I am curious to know who else will follow. Seems to me there is no down side except we are not in range of the class rules and sailing head to head will always have an Asterisk behind that larger sail area. So WHY NOT evolve the flee? Seems to me the stock M15 or 17 could greatly benefit for this development.
I hope Dr Judy of Bob Eeg chime in and tell me why this is not a good idea.
BTW I am still waiting for a rotating mast to go along with that square top sail, its easily done, again why not and where is the draw back?
M15 #616 Another Wrinkle
Smiley and Karen
magoo252@comcast.net
S and K, I am not sure what the rig looks like, but it seems to me that a square top would hit the backstay tacking a 17. I get some drag with the minimal roach on mine. TJ On Jan 29, 2012, at 3:17 PM, Karen and Smiley wrote:
I just posted on Trailer Sailor about WHY I should not order a Square Top Main sail IF I was in the market for a new main sail. Now that fellow demo pilot Dan Phys has broken the sound barrier with his new M 15 e I am curious to know who else will follow. Seems to me there is no down side except we are not in range of the class rules and sailing head to head will always have an Asterisk behind that larger sail area. So WHY NOT evolve the flee? Seems to me the stock M15 or 17 could greatly benefit for this development.
I hope Dr Judy of Bob Eeg chime in and tell me why this is not a good idea.
BTW I am still waiting for a rotating mast to go along with that square top sail, its easily done, again why not and where is the draw back?
M15 #616 Another Wrinkle
Smiley and Karen
magoo252@comcast.net
First, a fathead wouldn't work on a 17 because of the backstay. On the 15 there are several things it would effect- It would add to weather helm but maybe not enough so that it couldn't be compensated for by reducing the mast rake- that's going to be hard to judge. I'd be surprised if it gave more speed upwind except in a drifter. A problem in moderate winds would be that the main would have to be spillled more, which would have the effect of making the forestay sag off, again causing problems with sailing close to the wind. The 15 has a small problem with that anyway; that's qwhy it's good to reef a little earlier rather than starting the mainsheet in the puffs. I'd predict that in the case of the 15 e, assuming he can keep the mast in the boat in a 15 knot wind, this problem will be increased by the extra luff length of the longer and 7/8 rig. It might go like crazy in a drifter but it'll have some very easy-to-predict problems in the normal 12 to 15 knot conditions that we usually sail in. That boat sounds like one of the things Stan and I would come up with late at nite after a bottle of hootch- we'd wake up in the morning and say "WTF were we thinking! Time will tell. I wish him luck! There are no one-design regs for the 15 because it was never intended to be a racing boat (I would have done things differently if it were) and , and in the sense of fairness it's a tough call. How about full battens? How about genoas and drifters? How about the fact that the 15's made by the present builder are heavier and therefore slower than the older ones? And who is going to make the decisions and enforce these things? I think if I had a 15 and were interested in racing it I'd have great sails, enough hardware to make it work really well, and call it good at that. I'm not trying to discourage "messing about with boats" at all- these things are all great fun and lots can be learned, but there's nothing wrong with a little common sense either. If some sailors got the fathead main and it proved to be an advantage, Are the others gong to be discouraged from racing or will they be inclined to get the new, even-more-expensive sails? I haven't a clue! jerry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karen and Smiley" <magoo252@comcast.net> To: "Montgomery Sailboat Forum" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2012 3:17 PM Subject: M_Boats: Square Top Man Sail - M 17 and M 15
I just posted on Trailer Sailor about WHY I should not order a Square Top Main sail IF I was in the market for a new main sail. Now that fellow demo pilot Dan Phys has broken the sound barrier with his new M 15 e I am curious to know who else will follow. Seems to me there is no down side except we are not in range of the class rules and sailing head to head will always have an Asterisk behind that larger sail area. So WHY NOT evolve the flee? Seems to me the stock M15 or 17 could greatly benefit for this development.
I hope Dr Judy of Bob Eeg chime in and tell me why this is not a good idea.
BTW I am still waiting for a rotating mast to go along with that square top sail, its easily done, again why not and where is the draw back?
M15 #616 Another Wrinkle
Smiley and Karen
magoo252@comcast.net
participants (4)
-
Bill Wickett -
jerry montgomery -
Karen and Smiley -
Tom Jenkins