Quote:
Originally Posted by s/v Jedi
I don’t understand what the personality of Steve Dashew has to do with this? my point is that the picture shows very good sail shape. At the time he designed this, it was the perfect sail shape and today it still outperforms all other cruising boat designs. You will never get close using in-mast furling because that will make the boat heel more due to increased drag, increased weight aloft, deviation from the perfect wing shape, reduced speed etc. and all that when the furler is working perfectly.
Dashew didn’t buck traditions, he ignored racing rules that restrain functionality, comfort and speed.
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To get that much roach, you can't have a normal backstay. Dashew's boats mostly have B&R rigs, AFAIK, which bring other disadvantages.
Yes, a roachy full battened main is about as good as it gets.
However, in-mast furling mains are not necessarily terrible:
That's a Halberg Rassey 50 with the new Selden carbon furling
mast.
In-mast furling mains are cut flatter and you have more control over the foot when reefed, so in strong
weather, on the contrary, you will have less drag and heeling than a normal main.
Less
power is the main drawback of in-mast furling mains, and that's a function of less roach and flatter cut. You notice this a lot in light
weather (why I wouldn't want in-mast furling for a boat used for coastal sailing, and/or in mild latitudes), but for windy latitudes and ocean sailing the disadvantages are not really noticeable and the advantages are significant.
We
race with our in-mast furling main and do pretty well. We beat a great lot of boats with roachy full batten mains, especially when it's windy.