B RIG UPDATE Will Loy
I have to be honest and report that I have hardly sailed over the Winter months and if fact there was little opportunity to test the B Rig with winds cancelling racing or no wind at all. One of the members at my club , Joddy Chapman opted to swap his standard rig with my cut down mast and boom, there forecast promising fresh to strong winds in the region of 30 mph but instead he launched into a light easterly of no more than 4 mph and it only increased marginally over the next two hours. “ Many thanks for the opportunity to try the small Solo rig. I thought I should share some observations and thoughts: 1. It was an unfair test! 2. Once I got somewhere where there was some wind, towards the end of the race, I found the boat was well balanced and well behaved. Gybing was less stressful on both me and the boat. Upwind it was much easier for my 60kg mass to hold the boat flat - not withstanding the shifts and lulls which want to tip me in to windward. 3. My impression was that the sail was very flat. I could make it flatter but I didn't feel i could put much draught into it. 4. Sailing in company with other boats or if proper racing it could benefit from a window. 5. I guess a smaller sail is always going to loose out in variable winds, but if the intention is to encourage novices to venture out on days when they otherwise would not I think it can work. 7. I think you'll need to test it somewhere with a much steadier wind and more experienced sailors to really find out if the top part of the mast is flexing as it should and so on. Anyway, it was fun to try on a day when i may well have chickened out and stayed at home, so to that end it was a success.”
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