Raking Rigs

Originally posted by boatshed

Adam Bowers explained one effect of raking the rig in conjunction with using the cunningham at a Fireball training day.
When you rake and pull the cunningham on the effect of slackening the leech (or opening the 4th corner as some chicken followers might say) offers a path of least resistance to the volume of air in the sail so it can exhaust out of the 4th corner. This combined with adjusting the slot and raising the board helps reduce the total power in the rig and balance the boat.

I would guess allowing the 'excessive' volume of air on the high pressure side of the sail means the pressure differential between the 2 sides is less and hence less power. Someone with more knowledge of aerodynamics may disagree though.....

Edited by jeffers - 04 Nov 13 at 11:59am