Spy photos

Absolutely, Jim.

The Miracles seem to have gone the same way, but off-the-boom is so much better, both for control and, more important on little boats, space.

Now, if only the Enterprises could see sense... Surely adding one (ratchet) block mid-boom is not asking too much? Nobody learning to sail nowadays will want to join a class with transom sheeting, whatever the merits (and I've no doubt it has some, but not enough to persuade me to return to facing aft during manoeuvres, ever!)

time to play devil's advecote...

with an aft mainsheet you have to face backwards in manouvers... okay, theres no way round that. but with a centre main you can face forward. however now i think about when im tacking im not actually sure i use the fact im looking forwards to see where im going. who on this forum can honestly say they look up when they tack? maybe in an off the boom boat its easier to keep looking up as your front hand isnt being pulled down, not sure. in the gybes its even more important to face up and see what the boats going to hit isnt it? but again do you actually use that advantage, in the laser i know im far too worried about getting a face full of aluminium so i just keep my head down and concentrate on when the main goes light to pull it across. again is it easier to avoid this in an off the boom boat? thoughts appreciated.

Centre main on beginners boats is another thing that puzzles me... Stern main is so much more practical to teach beginners rather than all that changing hands behind your back nonsense. Best to get on with that later when they know which way to point a boat.

There's also little or no evidence that centre main is actually faster: in Toppers when they did the trials it was proved that if anything stern main was marginally faster, and boats like N12s and the like use the stern main for preference.

> I don't see why you would want to learn a technique
> with a system that you'd then have to change when you
> progressed in the sport

Common enough in all sorts of situations. In computer programming, in high jump, in driving, in science, in many different kinds of endeavours techniques that are appropriate when you're starting out aren't appropriate at advanced level. Don't you think that's a just a tiny little bit like saying you should buy a Musto Skiff as your first boat because that's what you fancy ending up sailing?

I find I can teach a beginner reasonable tacking technique with a transom main far faster: its just so much more intuitive. They can then get on with the rest of the 5 essentials and the rest of it. Once all that is dialed in and they have a reasonable feel for a boat they can get on with the more complex things. And, you know, I think I'd still have a transom main if I were setting up a moderate powered boat for cruising and casual sailing... Guess I'm just old fashioned then.

I find with the aft mainsheet on the Enterprise I get pulled down the deck toward the back of the boat when sheeted in in breezy weather.  I've just fitted a ratchet to try to prevent that though!

I wouldn't want to go centre main as it just wouldn't work in an Ent.  I don't find the facing back when tacking or gybing a problem at all - like Mike Ellis says when you're sailing centre main you're not normally focusing on looking forward anyway.  Surely on boats with 8ft long extensions half most of your attention is on not getting them tangled up, and def. not facing forward?

For me the place the main sheets from is a pretty minor consideration as long as the boat feels good to steer and sails nicely.