On Mast Movable Sails

I've been tossing this around for a while; what about a 16-17' fairly high performance dinghy designed so that the mainsail is a double skinned affair, basically an air pocket. The majority of the pocket would be in a"wing" between 6 and 10' long and would slide side to side either by electric power or by the crew using the mainsheet and either tacking or gybing across the wind. The cunning stunt here is to fill this pocket with super-saturated hydrogen gas. This would have the effect of dropping the CG of the boat to below the water line. This would eliminate the need for "trapeze" wires and according to my detailed calculations, the toe-straps could go as well and the crew would not need strapping down or up. The effect would be that the boat will always be upright and therefore at the optimum sailing position.

There would be a deep daggerboard (non-retractble) with lots of weight in it- and the ends of the wing would contain gas cannisters for replenshing the "pocket" in the "wing" therby helping to "prevent" a semi-permanent capsize. The hull would be fairly narrow and the wing would pivot for trailering or stowage.It would have a spinnaker... oh and some of the gorgeous sparkly stickers and probably a rudder as well.

These are pictures of an rc model with such a system on it:

http://www.cupid_stunt.com/pikchures/c_s_01.jpg

http://www.cupid_stunt.com/pikshures/c_s_02.jpg

The concept is to allow high performance without the physical requirements of actually sailing in order to open up the thrill of performance dinghy sailing to people that for whatever reason don't want to or physically can't hike or use a trapeze.

I'd really like to hear comments... (no, not really!!)

It's not April the first today is it??????????

Anyone else think there's some similarities here?

Originally posted by Doug Lord I've been tossing this around for a while: what about a 16-17' fairly high performance dinghy designed so that the skipper sits down in it like a mini 12 but with a difference: the majority of ballast would be in a"wing" between 6 and 10' long and would slide side to side either by electric power or by the crew using a "bicycle winch":leg power moves the weight(weight about 170-200 pounds). The whole wing would move side to side along with a weight sliding on it so the CG of the movable weight could get up to 8' or so from the CL of the boat.The wing would be supported by "Trapeze" wires. The wing and the crew seat would be somehow tied together so that the crew could slide aft as necessary and/or the boat would be equipped with a rudder t-foil. There would be a deep daggerboard(retractble) with some weight on it- and the ends of the wing would contain buoyancy pods to help prevent a permanent capsize.The hull would be fairly narrow and the wing would pivot for trailering or stowage.It would have a spinnaker... These are pictures of an rc model with such a system on it: http://www.microsail.com/pictures/m24c5.jpg http://www.microsail.com/pictures/m24c6.jpg The concept is to allow high performance without the physical requirements of most dinghies in order to open up the thrill of performance dinghy sailing to people that for whatever reason don't want to or physically can't hike or use a trapeze. I'd really like to hear comments... ================= Edited to try to determine why the url's here are "live" and the one on my last post is not...

Originally posted by Phat Bouy I've been tossing this around for a while; what about a 16-17' fairly high performance dinghy designed so that the mainsail is a double skinned affair, basically an air pocket. The majority of the pocket would be in a"wing" between 6 and 10' long and would slide side to side either by electric power or by the crew using the mainsheet and either tacking or gybing across the wind. The cunning stunt here is to fill this pocket with super-saturated hydrogen gas. This would have the effect of dropping the CG of the boat to below the water line. This would eliminate the need for "trapeze" wires and according to my detailed calculations, the toe-straps could go as well and the crew would not need strapping down or up. The effect would be that the boat will always be upright and therefore at the optimum sailing position. There would be a deep daggerboard (non-retractble) with lots of weight in it- and the ends of the wing would contain gas cannisters for replenshing the "pocket" in the "wing" therby helping to "prevent" a semi-permanent capsize. The hull would be fairly narrow and the wing would pivot for trailering or stowage.It would have a spinnaker... oh and some of the gorgeous sparkly stickers and probably a rudder as well. These are pictures of an rc model with such a system on it: http://www.cupid_stunt.com/pikchures/c_s_01.jpg http://www.cupid_stunt.com/pikshures/c_s_02.jpg The concept is to allow high performance without the physical requirements of actually sailing in order to open up the thrill of performance dinghy sailing to people that for whatever reason don't want to or physically can't hike or use a trapeze. I'd really like to hear comments... (no, not really!!)

It would have a spinnaker... oh and some of the gorgeous sparkly stickers and probably a rudder as well.

BWUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Oh and PS: When it comes to sparkly stickers and pretty colours, the sky's the limit!!