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Post by jonathantwite on Jan 28, 2013 21:48:37 GMT
Hi all
I struggle to get my old sail to go all the way up to the top of my new mast. I was wondering whether anyone could give me a "standard" measurement of a BM sail's luff length.
When you pull the sail up to the top band, how much gap is there between the bottom of the sail and the bottom band before applying any downhaul?
(Yes I know I should just buy a new sail, but unless someone gives my a better one for about 20p, I can't afford it...)
Thanks for any help
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Post by bertfatal on Jan 29, 2013 7:49:49 GMT
I don't think there is a "standard" luff length. The "limits of sail plan" are in the class rules. As long as the luff fits between the upper and lower mast bands it is legal. For info, with my sail pulled up to the top band, the bottom of the luff is approx 3" above the boom and curves down at the boom mid point to the bottom of the boom.
Richard K.
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Post by jonathantwite on Jan 29, 2013 13:26:31 GMT
Interesting - that sounds about the same as mine - however I have a bolt-rope through the bottom of the sail which I assume means that it must fit into the boom. Is it possible to use such a sail off-boom? Should I, or should I just be happy with the sail about 2 inches down from the top band?
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Post by bertfatal on Jan 30, 2013 8:42:17 GMT
I don't know about using your sail "off boom". One way to find out though, try it and see how you get on!
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Post by casablanca on Jan 30, 2013 15:03:23 GMT
I had 2 sails with bolt ropes along the bottom with my first Moth, I only ever used them in the conventional way. One of them would go nowhere near the top of the mast so I tended to use the one that did.
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Post by jonathantwite on Feb 4, 2013 13:57:16 GMT
So I went sailing on Saturday in one of our clubs unofficial winter races and tried the sail off boom. The results were as you would expect. On the reaches (We don't usually get many on our river, but we did then), I was able to let the outhaul of much further than usual and it seamed to do much better than normal (due to the lack of practise, reaching is where I usually do worst at opens...). Upwind I didn't notice much difference, only that it was impossible to get the bottom of the sail flat when the wind blew up as I was essentially only tightening the bolt-rope, leaving the built-in draft. I didn't do too badly so I will experiment some more.
Another advantage was that the boom was slightly higher...
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