News flash: cool fast boats sell.
- Thread starter Jackdaw
- Start date
I know, and I laughed because he just might be invested. That's the irony about it.
OR... The water is getting ready to freeze.. and we start to live inside for a while dreaming about what it may be next summer.
Boats are sold in the winter and purchased in the spring, enjoyed in the summer and repaired in the fall.
Boats are sold in the winter and purchased in the spring, enjoyed in the summer and repaired in the fall.
I was having exactly the same thoughts a few minutes ago. Very curious what would be involved, besides new canvas and rigging.
Most likely a new mast. Fractional rigs typically have tapered mast sections, this allows the upper end of the mast to bend. Mast head rigs typically have bigger stiffer masts. There are exceptions, the J35 is a masthead, but the spar is tapered and bendy. It also needs running backstays.
I also wonder about a previous comment, that one can't bend the mast to affect mainsail shape with a masthead rig. My main has a quite pronounced luff curve. Since I have a hydraulic backstay and a baby stay, I assumed I could bend the mast, which would simultaneously flatten the main and tighten the forestay, flattening the jib. I even thought I could do this on my previous boat, which was a masthead rig with a backstay tensioner and no baby stay, but could have some pre-bend tuned-in via the lower shrouds. But what do I know?
My Tartan 3800 has a tapered mast, from Offshore Spars (original equipment). But, I fail to see why taper is necessary for bend. The 52' 2" straight extrusion on my C36 is quite bendy, to which I can attest, having spent a lot of time with it on saw horses.
Not necessary, but makes it easier, there is less resistance. Think about a tapered batten vs a straight batten. Both battens will bend and flex, the tapered one will be more flexible.
I hear you, but I don't think that's the motivation for tapered masts, wight aloft and gust response being the two big ones. I think you can bend a straight section just as easily, 'though it will bend differently than a tapered mast.
Sh_t.. you should have stock as you have almost sold me on one LOL (except that the boat would make all the places I sail all of a sudden too small plus I could not afford it and its definitely not in the budget)..
Im enjoying the thread!
I know mine is certainly a bigger and stiffer ...
Mast head rig... It is like a telephone pole. It tilts but does not bend. The back-stay tensioner tilts it. Increases compression on the deck step and draws the fore-stay taught.
John, I'm afraid that's just not so. There are lots of references and tutorials on this. For a fairly authoritative reference, see Tom Whidden's The Art And Science Of Sails, chapter 10, section "Bending The Mast," and in particular, page 211, reproduced below.
Have you ever handled an aluminum mast? I built a new rig for a C36, and spent lots of time with that 52'2" extrusion. It was a straight mast, and it was downright whippy! If the boat is rigged to do it, it will bend, a lot! It's tougher with triangulated shrouds, but it can, nonetheless, be done, and to great affect, for flattening a main. The C36 has a straight mast and triangulated shrouds; the T3800, a tapered mast and non-triangulated shrouds. Both masthead rigs, both keel-stepped masts, both bendable spars (as I set up the C36).
Here's another reference:
Boat Clinic: Tuning the Masthead Rig
https://www.practical-sailor.com/news/masthead-rig-7055-1.html
Boat Clinic: Tuning the Masthead Rig
https://www.practical-sailor.com/news/masthead-rig-7055-1.html
I’d be concerned about the other consequences of a change like that. For one thing it seems like it would move the center of effort back adding weather helm. Fractional rigs are designed to be powered by big mainsails. Not sure just cutting down the headsail to a fraction would have the same effect.
"Sailing can never be truly popular. We have to face facts. Sailing is too technical and esoteric for a general audience." (Charles J Doane on competitive sailing) Our numbers in our sport are small and then very fragmented. Not only do others pick us apart but we sailors love to knock other sailors that might enjoy a different style or equipment than their preference. Then in the public eye, who and what are they sailing does the sport have that might bring an "outsider" to the sport? Most often there has to be a dream before the deed. Most of those that can afford a Pogo are dreaming of the Lake side get away. First we need to get along. Then change our image.
Off the subject--Scott, didn't K2 take off when Phill Maher (sp) won a medal at the Olimpic games?
Off the subject--Scott, didn't K2 take off when Phill Maher (sp) won a medal at the Olimpic games?
While many of us are lusting after boats like the Pogo 36 and its ilk, there is a down side to sailboats that go this fast. Here's a couple of sobering articles from the Chicago Mac race.
When safety-at-sea rules should be ignored to save an overboard sailor
MOB Miracle
When safety-at-sea rules should be ignored to save an overboard sailor
MOB Miracle