teak wrote:
I have already made a drawing that looks like this, that is the way I am leaning.
I was going to post the drawing but I do not know how, I was going to upload it to shutterfly whith a link but .pdf does not seem to upload.
the picture you show is a proa.
Yes, a proa. This kind of rig lets the boat shunt (rather than tack) without changing sail center-of-effort so much in relation to hull center-of-lateral-resistance.
As someone said above, the thing with a shorter rig of two masts, is that the mizzen sail operates less efficiently in the wash of the mainsail, but there are other benefits to the rig that would make up for that assuming the majority of one's life is not spent going to windward. Yes, a fast outrigger can make good use of the rig because making many close reaches at high speed could get you to the target as fast a slower, higher pointing/footing boat, and with more fun. Hypothetically. But sometimes you need that "as close to 45 degrees as I can get" to miss something or to get up a narrow place -- ah, so many variables! But take heart -- I was telling my skipper, John, this summer that our reefed balanced lug, hseeted to centerline (thus lots of twist) would not let us tack us a long narrow canal against a stiff wind during the Texas 200, but he proved me wrong. I would not have believed it had I not been there. I think a ketch, well tuned, would have done as well, and if you were not racing a sloop up the canal, would feel OK about it.
Regarding comments on sail shape at the head of a sail, definitely. I'm struggling with this now. I have a squaretop-ish rig with a diagona lpole-batten so stiff that the top 4 feet of the sail will never be anything other than flat until I find a way to grind the glass pole thin toward the LE, or find a heavier batten that can both square-out the top but also allow curve. How do you square-top-sail people manage that?
However, a good sail-maker can get some good shape near the head of a standing lug. I have heard though that the high-apsect standing lugs are not all goodness and delight due to a long unsupported luff that needs high tension to make stand -- not what lug rigs were reall made for. Hopefully the mast will be stiff and the downhaul powerful, at least 3:1? -- Wade