Mast head or Fractional rig

Laurie Davidson designed some rather nice 40ft racer/cruisers with (i think) a masthead rig with the mast further forward more like a fractional rig so a low aspect main/high aspect headsails,i think one,Teddy Bear resides in Seattle. Anyone familiar with this boat and how it works out?
Steve.

 

Im sailing a design right now that is a masthead rigged fractional. The masthead rig was moved forward to better use interior and deck space. It works great. Big main, blade jibs. As I previously mentioned I am prone to boom drag. to overcome this boom surfing I sail with a reefed and overtrimed main on tight reaches. It can be a bit of a workout on the wheel with the overtrimmed main. Not a bad compromise considering the space gained in the saloon and the bilge for additional tankage and the area on deck that allowed a wheelhouse to correctly fit under the boom and vang. Its a 20 year old boat. Upwind, with blade jibs and a full main, I can tear up any boat in my class range simply because I can tack so easy. Much to be recommended.

 

Teddy Bear is a lot like Amati (my boat). I have never put the boom end even close to the h20, and 40' by 10.5', she's skinny (8.5' draft), fairly light at 9600lbs. Even in the Straights of Georgia, sailing downwind, out tide, Southeast 25-30K wind, 8-10' chop. Of course we have a full width traveller, which helps. And we have the mast fairly far forward, but with a fairly high aspect roached main, and a roached blade jib, no standing backstay, which is a real advantage over teddy Bear, IMHO. 55' mast, 500 sq ft main, 200 sq ft + blade jib, 3/4 rig. Goes upwind like a metre boat. Lots of induced twist. Sometimes the upper 1/4 of the main seems like it is pushing things straight forward whilst going upwind. Still, glad we have a vang, use it all the time. You (at least I did when I had Amati designed) have to wonder about some of the ocean greyhounds that run the leech of the main to the transom, when you could use jibs etc. to make up the slack. Is it really worth having the possibility of the boom dragging in the water? None of these boats are catboats, except, kind of, for some of the Mini's, which do run downwind sometimes main only.

When the wind gets above 20K true, I usually furl the jib, leave the whole main up and plane downwind like a Finn. Then I don't have to worry about the jib, and I can dive deeper when I need to with more control, and keep the plane going, while playing the waves more than I could with the loss of jib drive. Masthead rigs to my mind lose too much main area to do this. And cutter rigs have that banana of the big furled jib upwind when you need the solent. Either that or you have to take the big jib down, which is always a pain, because you have to take it down in rising or big wind. At least with a fractional you have a big main to create a wind shadow for such things. BUT: we've had our lunch eaten enough times in moderate conditions upwind in a chop to appreciate a masthead rig. But then we fall off a bit, get the stern wave detached, and get our lunch back. Seems we can steer waves a bit better upwind too, rather than just powering through the suckers, but that's a bit

 

(to finish) of a rush too....

My $0.02

Paul

 

Agree with all that's said here

And just ONE, instead of multiple jibs for almost any conditions!

 

Interesting additions here to the arguments for both.

BTW Bruce, there is an older thread with almost the same title:
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/masteheaded-vs-fractional-rig-14089.html

...and if you did a 'search' on this forum I'm sure you would find much more.

As far as the aerodynamics of the situation go you might have a look at this rather lenghty thread:
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/sail-aerodynamics-457.html

Then I've always gotten a smile out of a quote I saw in one of Chris Mitchell's papers...something like "put 10 aerodynamicis in a room and you will get 10 different answers"

...a few other interesting points on rig design...
http://www.aes.net.nz/Rig%20Design%20Commentary.html