William_H
Well-Known Member
Sail to keel balance
Searush. I hate to be argumentive however.... That never stopped anyone. Firstly CLR Centre of Lateral resistance. Lateral as in sideways pressure.
My opinion is that this theory of balance is much over rated. Most boats will sail happily under main sail alone or jib alone. One huge mismatch of CLR to CE.
Yes I know I have done exercises where using the balance of jib versus main provides the only steering to the boat on a reach but even then the turning force is not great.
I have seen a lot of boats where mast position is adjustable. The owners have not really come to any significant conclusions. Almost always they are trying to minimise weather helm coming from excessive heel.
So I would suggest that OP not worry too much about mast position. A comparison to other boats will show what is reasonable. Certainly for a fractional rig with small jib mast forward while a mast head rig big jib mast back. But even those only in the range of max 9 inches between the 2.
Boom length is dictated by mainsail size (that you get SH) clearance of backstay and again what is reasonable. Bigger = light wind performance shorter= better handling in stronger winds.
As already said performance is good for cruising as well as racing. It can mean you can conservatively reef and still go really well to windward. A poor performing boat will be a real pain if windward is the only way home and you have had enough sailing. (Hence my aversion to roll up jib reefing.)
olewill
Searush. I hate to be argumentive however.... That never stopped anyone. Firstly CLR Centre of Lateral resistance. Lateral as in sideways pressure.
My opinion is that this theory of balance is much over rated. Most boats will sail happily under main sail alone or jib alone. One huge mismatch of CLR to CE.
Yes I know I have done exercises where using the balance of jib versus main provides the only steering to the boat on a reach but even then the turning force is not great.
I have seen a lot of boats where mast position is adjustable. The owners have not really come to any significant conclusions. Almost always they are trying to minimise weather helm coming from excessive heel.
So I would suggest that OP not worry too much about mast position. A comparison to other boats will show what is reasonable. Certainly for a fractional rig with small jib mast forward while a mast head rig big jib mast back. But even those only in the range of max 9 inches between the 2.
Boom length is dictated by mainsail size (that you get SH) clearance of backstay and again what is reasonable. Bigger = light wind performance shorter= better handling in stronger winds.
As already said performance is good for cruising as well as racing. It can mean you can conservatively reef and still go really well to windward. A poor performing boat will be a real pain if windward is the only way home and you have had enough sailing. (Hence my aversion to roll up jib reefing.)
olewill
I do aim to have her complete and seaworthy by august at the latest, a tall order maybe but I think achievable. Searush, yes I will look into that and yep as you have gathered she was designed and built to race and win 
in the right hands she would absolutely fly. I was told that wooden racing yachts allways have the edge over GRP for the first 3 to 4 years before the moisture weighs them down to the same weight as GRP whether that is true or not im not sure, but thats what my freind the builder of this yacht said and he was racing from the moment he could walk if you know what I mean! I will continue to try and update as I progress, going to be a slow process for a month or two because I need to organise for her to be moved to my workshop and then I can tinker all day long with Asia and Pink floyd playing in the background!