Rob Riley wrote:
"I really think that 1.5 is impossible for a soft sail. simply impossible
this because the shape can never be consistent because of the nature of cloth"
The sail will deform because of the forces? start to vibrate?
What is your definition of soft sail? No battens allowed?
I see that Rick already has given you a good reply, but since I've been writing on this reply at the same time, I'm sending this as well. Will give you additional data.
I found this paper with a table of IMS sail coefficients on page 37
http://www.oossanen.nl/beheer/wp-content/uploads/1993/04/petervanoossanen_-_predicting_the_speed_of_sailing_yachts.pdfThe table shows values of Cl=1.45 for jib, Cl=1.35 for main. (Battened main Cl=1.55.) Cl=1.7 for spinnaker (lots of drag too).
I also found this paper with some investigation to improve the IMS sail coefficients. Seems like they used scale models in wind tunnels. Graph of sail coefficients on page 23. Peak lift about 1.6.
http://www.hiswasymposium.com/assets/files/pdf/2006/Fossati@hiswasymposium-2006.pdf