Well was to sick to go sailing this beautiful wk-end
So made the best of it by finishing the installation of my drifter furler , still have to make some minor adj. to my storm sail furler http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/ ... 73d89f.jpg
That is one impressive looking bowsprit. How does it effect your sailing? What kinds of winds does your M now most favor? Can you run appreciably faster in lighter winds or is it better suited for 15+ winds? Great job.
Not necessarily. Fever that is. I already have my hands full with just two sails. But the idea of more sail is intriguing. Seriously doubt at my present skill level that I would even know what to do with all the excess canvas. Perhaps on a longer and larger boat it would make more sense to me. However, I would like to know how the M performs with multiple headsails. I think its great that folks go to such lengths to modify their Macs. If the results were other worldly. . .
Bet it would be real interesting, if in a good blow, someone uncleated all four furler lines (say if you use clutches, this could happen). Would the sails nestle nicely together or would they be flapping all over the place? If it were me, it would be the latter.
He does not use all the sails at the same time. You need to look at the way it's rigged - in particular look at that fore stay that connects about midway between his bow and the mast - that one is for a storm sail. If I was not a trailer boater I would install one of those myself. It's a great place to fly a storm jib because it moves the pressure closer to the middle of the boat in high winds. It's a much more effective way to use your storm jib instead of flying it off your main fore-stay. He is going to see a lot more nasty wind conditions up there in Canada than i will ever see down here so it's even more important on that boat than it would be on mine.
Head-sails turn the boat away from the wind. He surely will not have a lot of problems with rounding up when those head-sails are deployed! (And don't call him surely).
Those vids are perfect illustrations - notice that he does NOT have the top of the mainsail powered in! The very top of the mainsail is luffing ever so slightly in the first vid! That is why the boat is not tipping over too much - all the power is down low in the bottom of his sails - that's also why he just walks right by the boat filming the vid - his boat screaming right past it.
Yes, if you can get all that sail in the air and keep the air pressure down low on the sail you will go very fast! Sail shape is a really big deal.
Also notice in the second vid that when he is going by with no hands on the helm and the boat turns the boat TURNS AWAY FROM THE WIND! That's what a lot of head-sails will do - they will stop you from rounding up.
Is there a reason that your engine is down, instead of raised
Ray
Yep Ray
That big 1730cc block only comes up that far then it hits the helmanseat , only a jack plate extending the eng out will cure that unless I mod the seat
35 degrees? That much, really? Did not seem like it was heeling that much. There is a point where the wind just spills out of the top of the sails. Once the boat gets to a place where the wind is just blowing right over the top of the rig - I'm not sure what degree that would be. The boat can't really knock down because the wind falls out of the sail before the boat can get that far over. I suspect there is a maximum heel angle that the boat can achieve and that is it.
I wonder what that angle is? 35 degrees? What is the most heel angle that anyone ever got on the M boat? I bet it's less than 45.
I've seen 45 a couple of times but it scared the begeezees out of me er the admiral so dumped the sail. It didn't last long enough to determine what effect it had on boat speed.
Did see a YouTube video of a 26M in SF bay in a 45 knot wind and a 45 degree heel. Two guys. One drinking a beer, the other wondering what he was doing out there. Don't have the link but you can Google it. Also, ran into three youngish Polish sailors in a Cape Charles, VA marina who claimed to routinely push their 26X to 45 degrees. Didn't see them actually sailing but by the look of their boat and the ensuing discussions of the merits our respective boats, I have no reason to doubt them.
so dumped the sail. It didn't last long enough to determine what effect it had on boat speed.
