Mike
A correction regarding your comment below about balance. Sailing the 18m proa with ww hull on the lee does not improve balance. It creates lee helm which means the boat can sail slow without risk of getting into irons.
If the speed drops below 3kts when sailing with lw hull on the lee side then it gets locked in irons and has to be shunted downwind to get steering. Three sailors, experienced with cats and keel boats, tried to go to windward in light air and all of us ended up in irons.
Rick
On 08/02/2012, at 1:25 AM, Mike Crawford wrote:
I get that the Marples rig is balanced, and for a boat that needs to sail in both directions, that's a serious benefit (Rick's neat trick of sailing with the ww hull to leeward, in order to balance out the forces, notwithstanding).
Rick Willoughby
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