Rob
The 18m proa moves OK once off the wind. To do a comparison you need to sail to windward both ways around. I expect you would find having the ww hull on the lee side will give the best pointing ability in light air. Need to compare speeds and tacking angle both ways.
There is no problem until you want to pinch up. If you pinch up too far there is no way to recover once speed drops below that needed to counter the strong weather helm. Only way out of irons is to go in opposite direction so angle to wind can be changed. If rig allows COE to be shifted forward significantly then that is also an alternative means of getting out of it.
The difference to a monohull or cat is that speed can virtually drop to zero and you can still turn off the wind. You may get in irons trying to complete a tack when speed is near zero but you do not get locked up if you pinch up at 2.5kts. On the 18m proa your are going to be in irons as soon as the speed drops below 2.5kts.
There is a lot to learn about getting the best from the configuration over a range of conditions. If you were racing in flukey conditions and other boats were able to sail at same speed but 20 degrees higher you would be looking for ways to improve pointing. Easiest way is to sail with ww hull on the lee side. You can then pinch up knowing that you will be able to bear off no matter how slow you sail.
Rick
On 05/01/2012, at 3:28 PM, Rob Denney wrote:
Fascinating stuff, Rick. Thanks for the detailed feedback and your efforts to get the boat up to speed.
I have not had a problem at low speeds with the standard 2 big rudders mounted at 25% and 75% of the length, so have not really tried sailing as an Atlantic proa. Good to know that it works. My 2 cents worth (probably not even this much as I have not seen or sailed on the boat yet, but hope to in the very near future) is that once the rudders and rig are sorted and the bottom cleaned, it will sail as a Pacific, even at low speeds. If it doesn't, and you wanted to, I would raise the front rudder a little and/or alter the main:jib ratio.Only pics I can find at very low speed are at http://harryproa.com/ShuntingVideo/Shuntingbb.wmv In terms of weight distribution, this also has approx equal weight distribution.rob
__._,_.___
.