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Submitted on October 19, 2001 by Loren Woods
Question: I am in
the process of building a 31' trimaran. One of the sail configurations
shown is a boomless main. I don't know enough about such things as performance
and handling such a sail to make an intelligent decision about whether
this is an option I would like. For instance, how would one reef such
a sail? I would appreciate any sources of information you could provide
or point me to. Thanks for your help. Loren Woods
Answer: Dear Loren, What type of Trimaran are you building? I will assume that it is a cruising, plywood, Searunner 31 type. When you eliminate the boom you lose the ability to control leech tension and twist when sailing off the wind. On high-performance beach cats this is addressed with a very wide traveler, but they go so fast the apparent wind is always well forward.
 |
I'm more for the tried and proven
methods that work at sea. With a no-boom rig your sail control will
be greatly diminished except when sailing with the wind forward of
the beam. You can set up a lazy jack system to the foot of the sail.
That will help control the fabric when the sail is reefed but there
will be a lot more chafe problems than with the same lazy jack system
to a boom. Also, as the sail is reefed, the sheet lead angle to the
traveler will change significantly and you will have even less control
of the leech twist. Regards, Dolph Gabeler |
| Dolph Gabeler is one of North's service experts. |
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