I was watching a sailboat race in Stockholm this summer. The boats were Marstrom M32. It's a 500kg catamaran (800-900kg with crew and stuff), with a 50m2 mainsail and a 60m2 gennaker. Basically an upscaled a-class cat, with a downwind sail.
http://m32series.com/the-m32/
On downwind legs, all boats used the gennaker. It provided lots of speed. That made me think about the Harryproa, and that they don't have a downwind sail. What do you think about having a down-/lightwind sail in a sock on a Harryproa? It would probably only work with a unarig. My thought is that the sail should have three attachment points, and be symmetrical. Both clews at the bottom should be attached to sheets. That way I'm hoping it will be possible to shunt with the sail up.http://m32series.com/the-m32/
The gennaker on the M32 is relatively flat. When I was there on the first day of racing, conditions were very calm. Boats moved only a few knots with 50m² sail on a 17m mast. Thanks to the flatness of the gennaker, it could be used on every point of sail. So it was even used upwind. Twice the sail area made the boats move faster. On the second day (more wind) the gennaker was used on a reach (reaching start), but not upwind. On the last days, with more wind, and spectacular heeling in gusts, the gennaker didn't provide any benefit on a reach, so was only used downwind.
So what do you think about the idea of a flying lightwind/downwind sail?
Is it possible to arrange the sheets so that the sail can work in both directions?
Is it possible to arrange the sheets so that the sail can work in both directions?
Is it possible to make a symmetrical and yet efficient sail?
Is the mast strong enough to for the extra forces?
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