saveiro sail boat

I am trying to use the traditional sail form from my work boat on a normal lazer dinghy. I would be thankfull for the ideas of you experts and amateurs. I am a passionate sailor, but a agronomist, not a boatbuilder. Can anybody help me?

 

How can I make this frankenlazer sail faster? It is very smooth. It works upwind. Downwind is very confortable. But it mus work a litle bit better, faster, since I depend on river and it has strong tidal currents.

Tank you for your comments.

The sail that I adapted to the lazer sial boat is shown on the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-Smzst8hPA

external daggerboards
I use this boat to transport my farm's production to the coast. South Bahia, Brazil.

 

Saveiros use a loose foot lateen sail. It is not the best for upwind work. The shape of our sail looks really baggy forward. If you flatten it (tighten it on the yard length) it will help

 

smooth sailing

Do you know where I can find pictures of people doing the same thing? Or similar? Thank you Gonzo,

Pedro

 

I tried it as a loose foot laeen sail. Than I instaled the aluminium on the picture above. It was not thick enough. But before changing to a stronger one, I tried to reduce the "bag/voluma" using the blocks from the lazer in different locations along the sail foot. Look in the picture. It is better now, but not enough for the tidal currents.
thanks Gonzo

 

Pedro, you may be able to find some very good information and advice about lateen sails on Sunfish sailboat web sites. Competitive Sunfish sailors have the lateen sail developed and tuned to a fine degree.

That said, I suspect that the Laser rig might perform better than the lateen rig. In either case it depends on how much weight you are hauling. The Laser is sensitive to weight as are most small boats of that type.

 

A fun project, but you have condemned yourself to less efficient sailing with the chosen sail configuration. You may just have to live with the effect.

 

To make the sail more flat, all you need is more tension and a more rigid yard and boom. However, looking at the cut and material of the sail, you can't expect the performance of a modern rig and sail.

 

More tension - tks, it works

Thanks gonzo,
1-
I tried this afternoon more tension. It's really better now. Thank you. But somehow, going upwind, it seems to sail better closer to the wind with a little curve in the bow. My bow is still very thin, so it is easy to change this curve (luff?). I guess it will work better if this happens a little bit before the center of the sail area. Am I wrong? I couldn't achieve it yet. I'll try it tomorow. But I placed two blocks on the bow so that I can create more "luff" and flaten it back, whenever I want. It seems to sail better with a small luff. The center of this luff must go a little bit forward.

2- Once I get the right geometry of the sail and the right rig, I'll buy a better sail material. This is a cheap one, so that I can try everything.

Thanks for your advice.

 

rotation of the lateen sail

Speaking about geometry of the sail, the good new is that the triangle can rotate quite a lot. Meaning the yard can be almost vertical or horizontal. Almost vertical is good for upwind. Funny that while reaching it seems to sail faster when I loose the front line control of the yard (connection to the bow) and let it come to a 60º angle to the mast. The front part of the yard goes up. This can be done very fast and very easely.

I cuted a piece of the yard in the boom side and now I can quickly put the yard on port or starboard. Tacking is already much faster. The connection of the yard to the mast is now 15cm higher too.

sorry if it sounds like I am inventing the wheel and boiling water. I read carefully your opinions and ideas and try to make this better.
thank you

 

30º to the mast, not 60º

sorry
I'll post a picture

 

changing wood for aluminium

I got it. I 'll change the wooden parts (mast, yard) as soon as I get a better performance. I used wood because I get very easely in the farm.
Actually I allready started it, I instaled a aluminium bow.

The sites for sunfish are great, tks.

Pedro

 

Good luck. I have sailed your area, really miss it (saudade)

 

latin sail on laser sailboat

I made a short video where everybody can see how the "saveiser" is sailing now.
I thank you for your advice and comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN05nLBjj6o
Sorry for the scennes with the motobike.
Pedro