I know the OP doesnt want a water ballast boat from another thread but I have an old 1990 Mac 26S water ballast boat and think that if there was only one sail control I had to pick (besides the sheet), it would be the traveler.
Water ballast (which I have been sailing now for 13 years) works very well at low heel angles but not so well at high heel angles compared to a deep ballast sailboat. When the boat starts to heel, the hull center of buoyancy moves off the center-line so that further heel begins to lift the water tank / ballast mass. The vectors are actually very good in the case of lower heel angles for effective use of the weight for righting moment. At lower heel angles, vectors are essentially as good as a deep ballast boat. However, when the heel angle gets higher, water ballast is much less effective for righting moment compared to a deeper ballast boat. I brought that up because in addition to being able to pull the main to center for upwind, the long traveler is a huge help for sailing the water ballast boat in higher winds. In high winds, I often just sail the boat completely with the traveler adjusting angle of attack and use all the other controls for sail shape. Ie, traveler is for angle of attack.
Rest of the sail controls are used where they give the best mechanical advantage on this light rig. Vang is for leach tension (forces kept relatively low because the traveler is used for angle of attack), adjustable back stay is used to bend the mast on the fractional rig (leach tension, much better mechanical advantage for bending the mast compared to the vang), outhaul for sail fullness. Cunningham.. draft position (I guess.. this is at the bottom of my list for useful sail control).
My old boat has about the longest side to side traveler track possible given the space and location constraint and the whole length gets used. I have a windward sheet traveler which I really like and added some open turning blocks at either end which I find are very useful for single hand sailing the boat. I put some pictures and a little video of the setup on this old traditional hull water ballast sailiboat below. Ive been on deeper keel boats and of course the traveler is nice but think the traveler is a really great thing on the water ballast boat because it extends the wind range and helps manage the heel angle (ballast works very well at lower heel angles, not so good at high heel angle) in addition to pulling the sail to center for upwind.
Water ballast (which I have been sailing now for 13 years) works very well at low heel angles but not so well at high heel angles compared to a deep ballast sailboat. When the boat starts to heel, the hull center of buoyancy moves off the center-line so that further heel begins to lift the water tank / ballast mass. The vectors are actually very good in the case of lower heel angles for effective use of the weight for righting moment. At lower heel angles, vectors are essentially as good as a deep ballast boat. However, when the heel angle gets higher, water ballast is much less effective for righting moment compared to a deeper ballast boat. I brought that up because in addition to being able to pull the main to center for upwind, the long traveler is a huge help for sailing the water ballast boat in higher winds. In high winds, I often just sail the boat completely with the traveler adjusting angle of attack and use all the other controls for sail shape. Ie, traveler is for angle of attack.
Rest of the sail controls are used where they give the best mechanical advantage on this light rig. Vang is for leach tension (forces kept relatively low because the traveler is used for angle of attack), adjustable back stay is used to bend the mast on the fractional rig (leach tension, much better mechanical advantage for bending the mast compared to the vang), outhaul for sail fullness. Cunningham.. draft position (I guess.. this is at the bottom of my list for useful sail control).
My old boat has about the longest side to side traveler track possible given the space and location constraint and the whole length gets used. I have a windward sheet traveler which I really like and added some open turning blocks at either end which I find are very useful for single hand sailing the boat. I put some pictures and a little video of the setup on this old traditional hull water ballast sailiboat below. Ive been on deeper keel boats and of course the traveler is nice but think the traveler is a really great thing on the water ballast boat because it extends the wind range and helps manage the heel angle (ballast works very well at lower heel angles, not so good at high heel angle) in addition to pulling the sail to center for upwind.
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