<<I guess leaving the sail be and feathered until these blow over is not a bad option compared to all others.>>

  I agree.  Any traditional boat other than a junk rig with unstayed masts would be both scarier and less safe. 

  And even that junk rig isn't going to be as safe on a boat that isn't seaworthy in both directions.  I still think you'd probably be able to maneuver the sail over the deck by aiming the bows just off the wind, providing the possibility of working on it even when the wind is still up.

  Though I'll readily admit that "just letting it feather", and then working on the sail, in 70 knots, would scare the pogies out of me. 

  But at least the proa would have a relatively stable platform and a neutral rig, so the danger would be more imagined than real as long as I was properly tethered.

  I think it's a great idea to work through the worst-case scenarios and see how the design holds up.  It's for that reason that it's been useful to read about the failures with the Aeroyacht and the Gunboat in the past year. 

  Not nice in the sense that they were costly disasters for those involved, of course (and thank goodness no lives were lost), but nice in the sense that they show the problems inherent in "normal" multihull designs.  These things do happen, so if we're going to spend too much money on a boat, we might as well work on doing what we can to design them out of the equation.

        - Mike

 

No, Mike you are not missing anything. Thank you. And I am not contemplating a monohull. It is just that the recent GB55 dismasting triggered these mental exercises using the scenario's from all the different speculations put forward. This boat is top of the bill in build and design and some kind of norm to compare to. My hypothetical HP schooner vis does very well indeed. I just got stuck imagining the reefing line stuck at the end of the wishbone in 70 knots squalls. I guess leaving the sail be and feathered until these blow over is not a bad option compared to all others.

• New Members 1