Submitted
on November 1, 2007 by Al Molloy
Question: I've raced
my Ranger 22 on western Lake Ontario for 25 years, and always used North
sails. This year I added a 3DL genoa and main. They're great sails, helped
us sweep every series this year.
Some of the open footed mains I've seen recently seem to have a very large amount of material hanging down along the foot. I guess the idea there is that it adds sail area downwind without incurring a PHRF penalty. Could you advise as to whether this modification could be made to my 3DL main, and whether it would be PHRF legal?
Answer: Hello Al,
I am pleased to hear that you have been doing well with the 3DL sails and enjoyed another winning season. The extra fabric that you refer to is what we call foot round - any fabric below the straight line from tack to clew.
I agree with you that there are some sails out on the water that seem to have large amounts of foot round that is visible below the boom. In most cases this is not an advantage, and flaps when sailing to windward in strong breeze. Our company uses a % of foot length to determine the amount of foot round for any given mainsail, and install a foot line with cleat to eliminate flapping when required.
That said, we can add fabric to the foot if you think it would be beneficial to your sail - I would suggest a dacron foot shelf sewn below the straight foot. This will allow the foot of the sail to be tensioned properly when sailing to windward and still give you a large shelf when sailing downwind.
I Hope this helps - please note our new address below
. We are closer to
Hamilton now.
Regards,
Hugh Beaton
North Sails, Toronto
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