What is the best alternative rig for this dinghy?

Discussion in 'Sailboats' started by Mark O Hara, Jul 6, 2020.

  1. Ike
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    Ike Senior Member

    Alik. Who puts reef points on a sail for a 9 foot 7 inch dink (the OPs boat)? In a boat that small, if you get caught out, you lower your sail and row or paddle. And with my rig you can simply loosen the sheet and let the sail belly out to lessen the pressure if necessary. It doesn't even have a cleat to secure the sheet, because in a boat that small you don't ever want the sheet cleated down.

    And it would be very easy to make the mast a rotating mast, and you could eliminate the boom by sewing a bolt rope along the foot of the sail.
     
  2. Alik
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    Alik Senior Member

    I never mentioned a reef. I said that on Opti, one can take off the sprit, and this will reduce sail area. This can be done at sea if squall comes.
    On a rig with sleeved mainsail, how one can lower the sail??
    (FYI, I sail and race dinghies, Finn (on photo) and DevotiOne in particular. And my kids sail Opti and Laser. And I am often a member of race committee at international dingy racing events).
     

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  3. Will Gilmore
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    Will Gilmore Senior Member

    No Windmills? They are missing out.

    -Will (Dragonfly)
     
  4. fishwics
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    fishwics Quiet member

    Sail reduction on a sleeved sail? Round here we have masts that can rotate so the sail just rolls around it.

    fishwics
     
  5. Ike
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    Ike Senior Member

    Odd that you should say that because while I was out fishing this morning I was thinking about it and the same thing occurred to me. If the mast were round and rotated, then the sail could be rolled up on the mast. The sail batten would have to be removed. Also on a little boat like this you could make a simple rope arrangement so you could turn the mast without having to move forward. Could be done easy enough.
     
  6. Alik
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    Alik Senior Member

    Such system is used, say, on Laser Pico. Requires flat sail cut, vertical battens and some other complications.
     
  7. gggGuest
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    gggGuest ...

    I think I would want to investigate why he is capsizing rather carefully. 36sq ft is not by any standards a particularly large sail, and he ought not to be having that much trouble. As someone mentioned up thread that's a very small looking rudder. If the cause of the problems are basically rudder related then changing the sail is unlikely to have a satisfactory effect. Another possibility might be spar weight leading to instability, in which case a key aim would be to have less weight aloft, and a rig with plenty of spars in the air would be unsatisfactory. Just changing the rig without knowing the root cause of the problem could well be an expensive way to achieve nothing.
     
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  8. Alik
    Joined: Jul 2003
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    Alik Senior Member

    Yes I mentioned the rudder.
    The reason of capsizing is not only sail, but also CE of the sail. It is high! Given no hiking straps, it will be very difficult to sail upwind. Downwind, also with round bottom, small rudder and high CE, impossible to control.
     
  9. gggGuest
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    gggGuest ...

    Looking at the drawing there seems to be a lot of turnup in the hull aft as well as the small rudder. That might make for a craft that rolls and self steers badly. *If* on investigation that is a significant contributor to the owner's problems then, as well as a larger rudder, extending the skeg so its complete to the stern rather than cut away might improve the handling.
     

  10. sharpii2
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    sharpii2 Senior Member

    There are a number of possible reasons he might be having trouble. Only one of them is possible lack of sailing know how. Two other biggies are weight and trim.

    Is this guy unusually tall or heavy? If he is, there may be stability issues he is experiencing that other sailors of the same same boat don't.

    If he is unusually tall, he may have more trouble getting his head under the boom. This in turn may make it harder for him to scramble over to the windward side in a timely manner. Also, if he is taller, his body's CG is higher. And since he probably weighs more than the boat, his VCG is the major component of the boat's VCG. So now he not only has more trouble getting over to the windward side, but also has to deal with a dimmishing range of stability.

    If he is heavier than usual, say well over 200 lbs, the boat's VCG will also go up. This is because his weight will be a higher portion of the boat's total, and if he is perched on a thwart, he will be making the boat more top heavy than usual. Not only that, but because the boat is now heavier, it floats deeper in the water. This means it probably has less initial stability, at least at smaller degrees of heel.

    Now, let's discuss trim. If he is sitting too far forward, the boat will tend to want to round up into the wind faster. This is a good thing when wanting to change tacks quickly. But it can be a bad thing when the boat does this unbidden. Then the poor sailor can find himself caught aback (and on the wrong side of the boat). Then over he goes. This is even more true if the boat has a tall rig.

    And finally, does this guy have any experience sailing tiny boats?

    He may have started sailing on mid-sized dinghies, or even small keel boats. He may even be an excellent sailor.

    I wrote a screenplay with a character in it who came from a wealthy family of lawyers. He stays single until well into middle age. Then he develops a thing for his secretary (one that is mutual). He invites her onto his family yacht, a 38 ft racing sailboat. Then she returns the favor by inviting him onto her personal yacht, which is a home-built 11 ft dinghy. But before they are on board together, they sail the boat separately. This is due to a challenge by one of her siblings who is suspicious of their relationship. They are challenged to sail a certain coarse on the lake separately, with the one doing it in the shortest time "winning".

    This man grew up sailing, but mostly on his father's yacht. Needless to say, he ends up being humiliated. He capsizes, then barely makes it back.

    Maybe something like that is happening here.

    As for the best sail for the boat goes, I would consider one pretty much like the original, but shortened from the bottom up rather than from the top down. This way, the boom can be raised, making it easier to get from the low side to the high side quicker. I would also cut this new sail (made as cheaply as possible, because it won't be in use very long) absolutely flat. This is so the sail can be feathered before it starts flogging.
     
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