I had the top two battens converted to full length. Huge improvement! The sail still hooks somewhat due to the weight of the boom. The clew end can be lifted with the topping lift so long as the line from the masthead is on the windward side. Otherwise, it makes the hook even worse if it’s on the leeward side. Changing the position of a line on every tack is… troublesome.
What if the hanger lines were moved further aft along the wishbone? They would then take more of the booms weight. So long as the hanger lines don’t hamper the sail shape I don’t see a drawback to this. Thoughts?
Will do, next time out. But… if the topping lift line is on the leeward side of the sail and tensioned enough to lift the boom for a nice sail shape, it puts a big kink in the sail.
9 boats in our fleet today. We got beat by a flying tiger, a Bene 42.6, a custom 48’er and a very well sailed and prepared Newport 33. Not bad!
Ron,
Relocating the pad eyes on the wishbone for the hangers may improve light air performance, but it will likely diminish performance under normal conditions.
Standing rigging on a Nonsuch is an elegant balance that allows our boats to perform well in many conditions. No traveler, vang, backstay, jib sheets. Simplicity is devilishly complex especially in light air.
In light air and I’ve found easing the main and footing off 5º gives Soave boat speed and reduces leech hooking. I’ve played with the topping lift, but it doesn’t seem to improve VMG as much as playing the choker, main, and footing.
I may feel differently once I ditch the fixed prop… which absolutely kills light air performance.
Some pictures of your main in light air might prompt others to share thoughts.
I think you’ll find that since the hanger lines are only attached to the wishbone, so its not possible for them to carry any of the wishbone load. The weight of the wishbone is transferred to the mast via the topping lift, two hanger lines at the forward end and the halyard when the sail is rasised.
Ron, moving the hanger lines farther aft on the boom may reduce the self vanging effect the current set has. Hardening the choker will pull the boom back but won’t push the heel down as much.
I have not found a solution to the problem you described. I flip the topping lift on each tack.
A few have tried installing a flicker on the topping lift but i think it is intended to keep the topping lift off of the sail when the topping lift is slack.
I’ll try a flicker. On my Cal 20 it’s mounted on the transom instead of the masthead. Still works as it should.
I tried easing the topping lift and whipping it around but that involves leaning out over the side while underway and it always seems to take a few tries for a successful whip.
Without pictures, I’m not sure whether your light air problem of hooking refers to the sail roach catching on the topping lift or something else.
If you’re using your topping lift to make the sail fuller for light air, you’d probably get more benefit from easing the choker and, as Rob suggested, falling off a few degrees. It’s actually ok in light air for the sail to touch the leeward boom and billow out on each side, if that’s the “hooking” problem you’re referring to. Being catboats, Nonsuches sail differently from sloops and you’ll often find that easing the sail and/or falling off a few degrees gives you enough speed to make up for not pointing as high.
Take a look at the polar diagram for N26s on the www.Nonsuch.org website:
The polar shows how sharply the predicted speed lines curve in (i.e., predict drastically reduced boatspeed) between 45 and 60 degrees true wind angle at any wind speed, but even more severely in light air. That’s the data-driven summary of the basis for the advice that you’ll get there faster by falling off a bit than by trying to aim right at the target.
If your hooking problem is the roach catching on the sail, your options are a flicker or a boom extension.
