Ross,
Alu mast with pocket sleeve sail is very popular in landyachting and an estimate for the costs can be derived from type of sailing.
Unstayed alu mast 5.5 mtr tall and collapsable in three pieces total cost 128.01 Euro.
Fully battened square top pocket luffed sail of 6.0 sq. mtr and pentex cost 417,22 Euro.
Shipping from France to Netherlands using DHL was 140 Euro's I beleive.
As Ncik says, round carbon tubes are relatively simple to make by a homebuilder. There is no reason why such a homebuilder couldn't make an unstayed mast from carbon this way. This setup also avoids lots of special hardware like hound fittings, halyard systems and spreaders. This saves costs and "simple = best" for a concept like F12 in my opinion. It must be the better looking and more performant laser dinghy version to the catamaran scene. Very simple, quick and easy to rig but inexpensive and performant. Making a 12 foot version of the A-cat, Tornado/F18 or Moth is not smart in my personal opinion.
How would you lower the sail while on the water?
You wouldn't. Just let it weathervane. The fact that it is fully battened prevents it from flapping about violantly. The lack of stays allows full 360 weathervaning. Actually, the is no limit to the amount of rotation a weathervaning sail can make. Added advantage is that a dummy can gybe the boat on land without mishap !
Both mast and sail for a unstayed pocket luff sail are really easy to make by homebuilding.
Wouter
