Weather Helm

[Wansworth]

A continuation of rigs from another thread .Many yachts from the 60 etc seem to have been altered with the addition of a small bowsprit even the wooden Hillyard 9 toner has sprouted one was this wishful thinking by the designer to keep the mast support out of the cabin so putting the masttoo far forward.It seems the IORrule responsible for small mains and whopping Genoa’s encouraged the idea?

 

[lw395]

I suspect that a good modern jib might be more drive and less heeling than a 60s jib, so maybe as sails have improved the Centre of the heeling component has moved aft?

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

I think you'd need to ask each of the modifiers why they'd done it? The desire to fly an asymmetric spinnaker might be another driver. One thing about the big genoas was how the centre of effort moved rapidly backwards as they aged, turning a decent boat into an apparent dog. (With apologies to dogs worldwide).