I just got back from a long day
sailing my AF3. The weather was perfect and I was able to really
give it a shake down. I had a GPS along with me so I was able
to get Speeds. I found that the boat liked to stay between 4.5
and 5 kts. However it would go 5.5 to 6 kts. in short spurts.
This was faster than I thought it would be. I was pleased with
the windward performance but there was one curious thing. I found
that I could sail closer into the wind and it would sail faster
when close haul when the mast was on the down wind side. In other
words when the sail was pressing against the mast I could point
closer. On a balanced lug rig is this normal or might I have something
set up wrong?
Answer:
Chris,
You are doing nothing wrong. I have a Mixer
and a Sunfish, both of which lay the sail up against the mast
on one tack. The result is that you are able to point slightly
higher (due to the flatter entry), but the mast does distort
the luff so that the drive of the sail is somewhat diminished.
I race my Sunfish in a one-design fleet, and nobody worries
about this anomaly because everybody else has the same issue.
However, if you were lining yourself up against a fleet of Farr
40s (THE most competitive one-design keelboat class in the world)
then the mast-distorting-the-luff would be a disadvantage. I'll
take a guess right here and now and assume that you won't, so
in the end it doesn't matter one whittle.
As for setting up the sail, follow Jim M's advice
about having a tight luff. The tighter, the better the luff
shape will be. Also, the upper spar must be held tight to the
mast. I use some funny kind of loop in the halyard that I saw
on the Wooden Boat site that will be loose when the halyard
is loose, but cinches up against the mast when you tighten the
luff. It's perfect for reefing, since the upper spar will need
to sit lower on the mast. I don't have any easy way of adjusting
the foot tension; I just lower the whole thing and adjust the
knots, but then, the sail is only 68 sq. ft. A larger sail needs
easier outhaul and peak adjustments. The peak should be pretty
tight anyway, but not so tight that you get funny wrinkles in
the sail. In stronger wind, though, you'll want everything to
be tight as a drum. Oh, and for the larger lugs, you'll want
to have something to control that upper spar when raising and
lowering. It could give you a nasty bump on your noggin if you're
not careful.
My
sail was made by a professional, and they made the luff (as
drawn from throat to tack) ever so slightly concave so it would
never stretch and start flapping. I would definitely recommend
that for the other types of materials (polytarp, tyvek, whatever)
too.
One last recommendation I have is a very long
mainsheet. So long that the main can be let out to the point
where the boom is over the bow. That came in handy one time
when I ran aground going downwind, and I could still luff the
sail so it wasn't driving me further ashore. Not too many other
rigs can do that trick.
In all I've been very happy with my Mixer's balanced
lug. Don't worry about the mast mishaping the sail and just
reellllaaaaxxxxx...
Jack
