Should we impose a sail area/length2 limit?

[xarax]

A cloud of sails dragging a comparatively minuscule hull is more than unsafe, it is ugly and stupid. How can we prevent a similar development in the future of the noble sport of sailing?

[Matt Lingley]

Total rubbish! Are you saying 18'skiffs and the like are ugly and stupid and should be stopped from sailing becase of it? If people want to push the limits then so be it. Saying sailing is a noble sport is just the kind of BS that makes the majority think all sailors are megarich elitest fools....

Why limit anything like that?
The current trend in high speed sailing technology is more speed with less sail area: the Moth(85sq. ft.) is already faster than an A class Cat (150sq. ft.) and a 49er(600sq.ft); and Finian Maynard on a windsurfer is faster than all of them.
As speed increases and more importantly as efficiency increases, sail areas will come down for given size boats.
The revolution in sailing(racing) represented by the phenomenol performance of the foiler Moth has implications for all of sailing over time.

[cyclops]

Small sails are a current FAD. IT WILL end. Bigger sails mean more power and speed. How quickly all of you can be hyped and PR'd to believe such nonsense that small sails = faster boats. Remove all sails and you can travel at twice the speed of light.

The Moth is a fad?! The Moth hasn't even begun to go fast yet! "hyped" and "pr'ed"? !!The use of just two hydrofoils to fly a sailboat is one of the most significant technological breakthru's ever in sailing! You would do well to study whats happening rather than make such completely uninformed comments....

[cyclops]

I suppose planes follow the same small engine/ power logic? SR-71 Blackbird spyplane has small engines to be the fastest aircraft alive. Rubbish, rubbish. Power of engine ALWAYS overrides all other factors. Bricks can reach 500 mph. Speed is tied to the power available. Always has , always will be. The more money a racing team has the more powerfull the engines and the more 1st places. Class type racing has never had any consistant rules on power. It is always allowed to be tweeked upwards. I suppose the Clipper ships were the slowest and most inefficient ships of their time? Rubbish for even trying to dissagree on power = speed.

[cyclops]

Hull design can improve a boats speed. Foils really remove a boat hull from the water. If the hull is not in the water it is a low flying aircraft that is still a little short of power. What are we trying to accomplish? Fly boats or sail aircraft? We are almost at that point of decision. Which is it to be?

[usa2]

its not the size of the sails, its how the sail area is distributed-modern maxis dont carry large genoas anymore because its been proven to be more effective with a blade-type jib and large mainsail.Off the wind, the bigger the sails, the faster the boat goes usually, unless your apparent wind is forward of your beam.

[cyclops]

The same problem has already arrived in powerboats with " Surface Piercing drives " and their props. Some body is going to realize that a full air craft prop is REALLY going to up the speeds and do it with some clever engineering. Just the tips need to touch?-------------------------- I win the races in my class from now on! Time for the rules to change in my class. It never ends or changes.

[yokebutt]

As we like to say, most problems can be solved either with a sharper chisel, or a bigger hammer.

Yokebutt.

[xarax]

Let it be! Sailing, the macho sport where Size matters! It is a pity...Sailboats became powerboats...We should not have any limits anywhere and just watch our children use drugs and steroids and athletes became Schwarzeneggers...

[FAST FRED]

I'm kinda taken with the old J boats.

What's wrong with a cloud of sail?

IF you can't afford one , thats a personal Problem , not a reason to create "rulles".

FAST FRED

[WildCherry]

Umm, crawl into your box dude. or go take some shrooms and open your mind. Either way, todays world is forward thonking. not backward. Your thought of limiting sail area to set limits is silly, and 1800 type thinking. It was people like you that told the Wright brothers they would never fly.

[xarax]

Don t bother ! Nobody wants to impose limits on a limited mind.Because brain size matters, too...And there are still people like you trying to fly flapping their arms with POWER.

[usa2]

why would anyone want to impose limits on development of sailing technology? thats what you seem to be suggesting. There is a reason why offshore boats are much faster than ACC boats. The ACC's are constrained by a rule which doesnt promote great development, while offshore canting keels have made boats into speed machines.