[quote=GerryMorelli]Hi Turbohobo,
Thanks for the good words on the design of the rig. It has been a lot of fun developing it.
Your question is fair ? Why? My answer might not make sense to a pedal to the metal purist like you, but here goes. Short answer: I want a quick ride, to be in the water essentially single handed ten minutes after driving up, and I want complete control over sail power so I don?t end up in the drink.
Longer answer: I am purely a recreational sailor, and my favorite thing is spending time with my loved ones - preferably on the water! ? and the more time there the better. I used to be a monohull sailor, then my kids made comments like, ?Well, it?s [i]kind of [/i]fun, but it?s kind of slow.? The moorage felt really expensive after that, so I looked for a quicker boat I could keep beside my house.
The answer would be obvious to you ? I got a beach cat (Tornado by Sailcraft of Canada). That was a lot of boat! Due to circumstances I only got it out a couple times, but the set up time was a real pain, so I looked for a way to get on the water easier and quicker, preferably single handed. I saw some bipod (A-frame) mast rigs online and thought that might be an answer to the set up issue. Some sail rigs, like crab claw and others, lend themselves to this type of mast.
Being an engineer I enjoyed reading Marchaj?s ?Sail Performance? book about rigs. There has been a lot of discussion about crab claw rigs, which Marchaj found to be great stuff in wind tunnel testing, but real people have found the performance to be elusive. I did my own wind tunnel testing and couldn?t get his numbers to windward, but did get respectable power off the wind when I added some important design details.
The rig in the pictures and video is the result of my findings, which I bolted to a Hobie 16 that lacked some of its rigging. I set up the rig easily and single handed in six minutes, ready to untie the boat and launch. I can instantly reef when the wind builds, and because it is so easy I often reef when gybing for a really smooth turn. No, it is not as fast as a standard rig, especially close-winded, although over about 60 degrees to the wind it does pretty well. I am still learning how to get the most out of it. It is considerably faster with only two people, but with three as seen in the video it was still fun. It points well under full sail into the wind ? in the middle video clip I was trying to get inside the pilings without tacking and was about 40 deg to apparent wind.
My kids are catching a love for sailing, and who knows - some day I may even get my wife out there if I let her control the reef line! Not for everybody, but I am curious if there are other recreational sailors out there that find this interesting?
Take Care,
Gerry
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