Revamp Sail Plan & Performance

[cooper1991]

Is it possible to safely revamp the sail plan/size on a 26ft sailboat to up the speed performance? The boat I'm think of is 26ft - 5000kg/11000 lbs with low SA/D of 10 but high comfort ratio 55 and capsize ratio 1.29.

Engine is 16HP which seems low for the weight of the boat.

[Cheechako]

Well... a qualified ...yes it is.
Add a big roach like a catamaran, add full battens etc etc. It depends on how the boat handles, it's weather helm etc.
Think of it this way:
A boat has a basic sail plan, but is offered with various sails, including up to 160% genoa etc. Some designs have a racing/light air taller mast available also.
Then there's the thing about how big are your cajones? You can leave a lot of sail up in a blow including a spinnaker if you have the right crew...

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by cooper1991

Is it possible to safely revamp the sail plan/size on a 26ft sailboat to up the speed performance? The boat I'm think of is 26ft - 5000kg/11000 lbs with low SA/D of 10 but high comfort ratio 55 and capsize ratio 1.29.

Engine is 16HP which seems low for the weight of the boat.

Sailing performance depends on several factors:

• Sail area and sail shape
• keel, rudder, and hull shape
• keel depth and ballast ratio
• sheeting angles
• displacement vs length

You will have little success increasing sail size if the other criteria are not suitable. Generally a production sailboat with very small sail area will not have been designed for performance and the other criteria I mentioned above will limit what you can achieve.

The engine size may be adequate, depending on what you expect to do with the engine. My 43' uses about 22hp to 6 knots.