LOOSE fOOTED MAIN

[steveK]

Loose footed sails for DS I??

I have been talking with a local sailmaker. He wondered if the class would allow a loose footed main sail?
The advantage would be, making it easier and faster to rig. There seems to be little advantage or disadvantage boat-speed wise. It would allow a little more flexibility shaping the sail with the outhaul, but that could easily be controled.

SteveK Chatham Ma.

[persephone]

Sorry to quote rules on you, however...

8.4 MAINSAIL: Mainsails, when set, shall be attached to the spars using bolt ropes in the slots provided in the spars. Loose footed mainsails and zipper footed mainsails are prohibited. Slugs are permitted on the luff of the mainsail in addition to the bolt rope.

That is straight from the rules found in the handbook under the association drop down at the top.

Now if your question is weather or not the DSA would consider a rules change I suggest you look up and speak to Bob Damon, the current class measurer. I have no idea what the procedure would be for changing a rule and how likely it is to happen.

[steveK]

I guess I missed the part about the bolt rope in the boom slot.
It's not a big deal, but many modern class boats have loose footed sails for reasons that I mentioned.

It might be worth discussing. Any thing that makes rigging easier and faster helps to attract new owners.

[owldraco]

Aside from "class legal" rules, would a loos-footed sail work. With the sail attached to the boom at the tack and a rope tied to the clew. My sail of course has the bolt rope on the foot. Would a loose foot give you more or less control over sail shape, (like on an old one that is possibly blown)? Or would the sail beat itself to death on heavy air days without that extra holding power of the bolt rope?
Andrew
Central KY
DS2

[GreenLake]

I just read a discussion in another sailing forum, mostly larger boats, where there was pretty strong opinions that loose footed sails are easier to trim for lower wind speeds.

Interestingly, that was also kicked off after someone talked to a sailmaker. Losing the boltrope at the foot would make the sail cheaper, and where there are no class rules, adding a boltrope apparently is sold as a separately priced option.

In theory, having that layer of cloth should have some effect at reducing the flow around the foot of the sail that leads to a vortex that's being shed astern and induces drag. Reducing that flow would reduce drag. (Similar, in effect to the winglets on airplane wings).

Finally, some people claim that for laminated sails, providing the "shelf" at the bottom of the sail is actually tricky, so that could be the reason why loose footed sails are used for some high-end boat.

[steveK]

To continue this discussion just a little bit futher: I too always thought that air flow was lost passing under the main, but an engineer friend pointed out that this is not the case. Most air flows off the top and trailing end of the main.
The jib and genoa sails loose much more air off the bottom; so trim that jib as low to the deck as possible.
Non-footed mains probably will not happen in the DS class, even though the sails would be slightly cheaper to build and easier to rig.
Stevek