Solo sails

OK here goes.

Now the Solo sails I've seen are all tracked in the boom which screws them up from the get go. The masts they use are stiff as tin can be (unless they allow carbon which I've yet to see) so no amount of screwing with the luff curve will do much all you can do is mess with the broad seeming

Now I'm not going to say there isn't much difference at the top level there almost certainly is, but on the basis of 'if you have to ask', then I would counter that the difference isn't enough to get a mid fleet guy into the chocolates unless he knows exactly which bits of string to pull and on top of that when and where to start which side of the course to use and how to trim the things which even the top jocks don't get 100% of the time.

The number of crap rigged sails I've seen in good hands over the years testifies to that, I can assure you.

Mostly it's psychological, dinghy rigs for the most part are all well below par because of the sh*t masts.

Having said all that I've only ever seen club Solos, maybe there's a miracle revelation waiting for me at a top Solo event, but I seriously doubt it.


Edited by iGRF - 27 Aug 18 at 1:14pm

The predominant Solo sail maker has a 15% off offer at the moment making a laminate sale £765, I don’t know when this offer runs out.

Originally posted by iGRF It only 'Works fine' because all it has to compete with is other dross. No metal mast can compete in range of sail shape/depower against carbon in the hands of a competent sail designer/buider. Simply put if a carbon mast/boom ever got permitted that would likely put and end to tin.

.

That's a new one, never heard shelf foot, always called it lens foot

I don't need to know what a 'shelf' foot, or 'lens' foot is, although I did come across a 'lead' foot in powerboat racing once.

Simple fact is sail design moved on. I stopped using tin masts in the early eighties, having used needlespars then some multi section device tapered both ends that didn't perform that well either. It used to be a nightmare trying to build twist into sails on tin masts, even using boom vangs, topping lifts and every other lame dinghy contrivance.

It wasn't until the advent of carbon a decent bend curve and the ability to progressively mismatch that it was finally achieved along with a fog of disinformation known as 'floppy leech'. Nor with the exception of maybe two or three instances have I seen it really applied to good effect in dinghies, designers still opting to use conventional controls which I now understand perform other useful actions necessitated by the poor design of the craft and its sail plan and boom length.

Edited by iGRF - 28 Aug 18 at 9:15am