The times they are a-changin'

Looking through some pictures of the skiff when it was Rockport we did that 'God, look at that mainsail - it is SO fat in the middle and skinny at the top' thing...

Things have moved on tho - the skiff rig is now all carbon instead of glassfibre tipped aluminium. Battens are now carbon, making them stiffer (not much lighter tho) and certainly when you look at the pictures of boats from a whole 10 years ago you can see straight away how the Americas Cup inspired flat top, further refined by the 14fters and 18fters has become the norm since say 2006. Indeed Howie Hamlins Glaser built rig which won the 2006 14' worlds is a landmark rig in dinghy sailing in my humble opinion and we worked with Hydes here in the UK to build the GT60 rig to look just like it...

When as you can see in these 2 pics, you get a chance to lay a 1999 rig over a 2007/8 Ullman main (the one we have just bought from Mason's Investec )and you find the areas are almost identical and contrary to how you think it would be, the sail width is not so different, the luff curve is almost identical up the last 1/8th and the tip area gained is probably about 3/4 a sqm - maybe a touch more but not much. The thing is I guess better materials, computer modelling and the relentless driver of competition has developed sailmaking to a proper science and meant in the last what, 5 years? the industry understands better why this rig is more efficient and goes faster - and it is not the area that does it.

Sure, in the light stuff area is king ('no substitute for 'cubes' as the american race car builders would say), but once the sail is working in 8 to 10 knots, it is just more efficient at reducing induced drag, which means in 15knots it is not dragging you backwards like the pinhead sail will and you nett more of the force you generate. I won't bore you with it anymore unless you really want me to open the aerodynamics book at tip design and fill the blog with maths (that is not an empty threat!) - it's just interesting and something we will (all) continue to work on with the boat until the cows come home. But mark my words - the times are a changing and production boats will be next followed by flat topped Merlins, Larks, 505s etc. Fantastic.