TOPIC:

There is a great picture on the ISAF website of Stars racing in their Worlds at Rio - good breeze,sunshine, sparkling sea and wonderful mountains in the back ground - just like Lyme will be this coming July! (except perhaps for the mountains of course)

There are lots of similarities with Albs - look how much they let the rig forward offwind and

Star and Albacore crews must be the only ones to be trained on pies and plates of chips. Those of you with tiny crews look at Andrew "Bart" Simpson and admire!

It sounds great but I have trouble getting out here as it is with the toddler and infant at home! Getting over there is in the longer range plan though.

JJ you ought to come over here for our championships - we can find you a competitive boat and you could put your own sails on it (which is what Barney & Dave usually do) In the last 2 years Barney & Dave have won here by sailing better not through outstanding boatspeed.

Our champs are at Lyme 16- 18 July - ideal sailing conditions with wall-to-wall sunshine have been forecast by our Met Office man on the spot (Joss) after his 4th pint of beer so I'm told

Interesting comments about the high versus low aspects. I have only been in the class a few years and have always used high aspect sails on 6888. Last fall I tried out 7700 equiped with low aspect sails and found that the groove was at least 3 times wider. It was so much easier to steer and keep at speed. Perhaps that was Henry's magic boat or crewing or not being lined up next to anyone. Perhaps it was as a result of sailing in the big lake but the breeze and swell was up.

Were is the fun in that Mark, stiff mast long spreaders rules, you just need 6ft of spreader draft though



High aspect jibs are easier to use and perform better in chop!



Phil

A6504 "Nemesis"

Northern Rep.

Jib luff length is king on this side of the Atlantic.



If I may suggest the low aspects jibs the Americans & Canadians use are for the primarily light winds on flattish water, we need power from the heigher aspect to deal with choppy conditions. It may have evolved this way with the different use of rig systems, who knows, the high aspect on the Hydes are on the money at the moment.



Oh & bendy mast with long spreaders or stiff mast with short?FOWLER2010-01-26 21:36:52

jeremy wrote:

The other thing the Stars have is a very thin mast with huge spreaders to control an enormous sail area - perhaps we all should go to Needlespar masts like Mike Mac -that is if we can find a spare lurking in the long grass at the back of the dinghy park

Hmmmm....? They also have baby stays/lowers and running back stays to which I dont think would be legal on an Alb.

The other thing the Stars have is a very thin mast with huge spreaders to control an enormous sail area - perhaps we all should go to Needlespar masts like Mike Mac -that is if we can find a spare lurking in the long grass at the back of the dinghy park

Hmm, another reason to consider the switch to low aspects.
I have noticed that Barney has his quite high up when off the wind.

Low aspect jib as mentioned earlier would give another few inches of space- probably not enough though

We are fitting the adjustable forestay, to allow the jib luff to belly off, but take John's point with the jib halyard issue, not having enough free movement between tack & jib sheave box to raise the jib off the foredeck.



Neat idea thoughFOWLER2010-01-24 10:12:48

SteveAshford wrote:

Why not use the (adjustable) forestay? You could then the jib go really loose.

Steve

Pulling the mast forward is not the problem, it is simply one of space between the jib halyard at the mast and the bow where the jib attaches.


The Stars have about 3-4 feet between the jib head and the mast (upwind), on a (high aspect) Alb jib this distance is only a few inches.




If the jib is raised off the deck by a distance that would make a difference, it becomes too baggy and unstable for all but a very narrow point of sail and windstrength. I believe any benefit would be negated by the added complexity of adjustments required at the leward mark.

JohnW2010-01-23 12:41:19

Why not use the (adjustable) forestay? You could then the jib go really loose.

www.sailing.org/home.php (hyperlink added at Jerry's request).



Interesting what they do with their jib downwind - they let the tack right off so that the jib rises into slightly faster air and the jib flies a bit like a flat spinnaker.







Ive investigated if this could be done on an Alb, but it could only work with a low aspect jib, as there isnt enough space between the top of the jib and the mast to raise a high aspect jib with the mast raked forward.

JohnW2010-01-23 12:00:22

Derek has prompted me to put in a link to the ISAF site it is www.sailing.org/home.php