Someone shot this pic of me pressing the P19Mx. Hope it does the ride justice.

Dave

Excellent sail trim.

That is some serious twist in the mainsail. Very nice.

-Rob V.

alright, call me ignorant, but how does one get such a nice looking twist? Maybe It is hard for me to see, but even with my new main I don't think I get that twist. We were following another N6.0 and I was looking at his main and it had that nice twist, but ours didn't. The traveler was centered and if we let the main out it still didn't twist. We were doing well against him but I felt... well.. inadequate
But then again, it may just have been joe's fault.

Consider following your you boat sometime and look at the twist your main and jib have, its more than you can see from sitting on the hull or the wire. Or get someone to take a picture from behind. Our sail maker not only sailed with me to look at his work, but also sailed behind me to get the full perspective.

Thanks Dean & Rob. I basically did what Chris mentioned in his post. I had a friend (Robbie Daniel) on the boat and then he followed me in a power boat to see what strings needed to be pulled. As most of you know, every sail is going to be a little different and will need to be tweaked accordingly. Randy built those particular sails, and they were on the full side.

This is my latest addition to the world of catamaran horsepower.

Dave

I am working on one as well.. I will put pics up of my new spin rig soon.

Dave,

that spi looks like it is very full. Is it trimmed the same way in the picture as when you sail with it? I noticed that the tack was not pulled all the way forward to the turning block? Some telltales on the spi is always a good idea, unless your crew is super-attentive.

On your first picture in this thread. What course are you sailing, jib-reaching?

Rolf,

The spin is one of Robbie's Tornado sails. It was the newest one in the development line that he was willing to sell. Wouldn't want us "recreational sailors" with the newest Tornado development sails, now would we? Sailed it in Miami a few times.

No, that isn't sail trim. I just hoisted it and took a pic before the wind took the boat down the beach.

Dave

Rolf,

In the first pic I was playing around with "what I would call" somewhere lower that footing. May not be the prper terminology. With the MX sails, main cracked a bit...nice speed.

Dave

Dave, I guess you was what I would call "jib reaching" then, really fast point of sail and exciting! Living on the edge all the time if you are powered up. It's really fun when you have to make the call wether you shall luff to save a capsize or go lower
That also explain the twist in your jib and main, which I tought was totally wild for pure upwind work.

Since you use a T spi, you must have about 910cm between the spi-pole turning block and the mast-halyard block?
Tornados _are_ for recreational sailors (and hardcore racers) in my opinion. Gran Segel still build the fastest Tornado spi's, and they will gladly sell a spi to anybody
I think it was Mitch Booth (or perhaps Herbie) who said that when developing new sails only 1 out of 10 sails buildt was an improvement. It would be interesting to see some pictures of your new spi when trimmed for sailing. Taken from aft of the boat and from the spi-foot upwards.
The shape in the picture (even if it's hard to say from such pictures) look far to deep for a fast cat. But as it's not trimmed I guess it doesn't have the shape designed into it.

Jib reaching... the only time I get that kind of twist in my sail is if I am lower than beating but above a broad reach. While beating, the main is sheeted pretty hard and doesn't twist off unless I am bailing out (depowering). Once I go below broad reach, the traveller going out flattens the sail some. I love that "jib reaching" point of sail, too. Not the best for racing (poor VMG), but if you are out for a fun sail, who cares how fast you make it to the windward mark. I feel it's all about hull flying and boat speed. If your "go-goes" are not up in your stomach, you are not pushing the boat hard enough.

-Rob V.
Panama City
Nacra 5.2