Canting rigs, wingmasts, and capsize prevention

 
cpcanoesailor
 
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cpcanoesailor
Total Posts:  92
Joined  15-12-2011
 
 
 
22 August 2014 07:56
 

Something that hasn’t been mentioned is sheet loading. As the mast cants, the sheets start acting more like vangs. Or said another way, the resultant sheet tension force vector cants with the sail, so less of that force goes to reducing the sheet angle. So to keep a constant sheeting angle, more force will be required. Something to consider…

 
Manik
 
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Manik
Total Posts:  220
Joined  01-01-2013
 
 
 
22 August 2014 10:54
 

Good point! Past a certain cant angle that’ll render the sheet useless. The only practical (partial) remedy I can see, is moving the mainsheet block further to windward on the boat, which would increase the cant angle at which the sheet becomes useless. The tradeoff is that you get increased sheeting loads (this time in the form of boom compression) when beam reaching.—Traveler maybe?

There’s also a potential issue with deck clearance. If the mast is on a hinge and only cants around the longitudinal axis (so toward the pod or the ama), and you’re on a beam reach for instance, then the boom could hit the deck on the leeward side if the mast cants over far enough. I suppose the gooseneck would prevent any serious damage from occurring from the impact itself, but you would have a sail flapping around, and that together with the boom which is in contact with the deck sounds like a really bad combination to me. The question of course is how likely that is, since you’d have to have an awful lot of sail area up to get the mast to cant on a beam reach…

Marco