Opposite: it will stall easier on the smaller sail, since the chord is shorter and hence the Reynoldsnumber is lower.
A catamaran sail is not an aircraft wing and aspect ratio / Reynolds numbers are only part of the story.
The wider iCat sail will require the airflow flowing over it to contain more energy to overcome the (longer stretch of) negative pressure gradient towards the leech. If this air flow doesn't live up to this requirement then a backflow region will form that will detach part of the flow from the sail surface. This is conceptually very akin to stalling. This is the same reason why full sails are slower then flat sails in light winds. Read up on on this topic in High Performance Sailing by Bethwaite.
Furtherore a 16sqm sail with same luff length has 6% more maximum lift due to area. Hence the the Icat has a bit more than 6% additional lift.
Of course it doesnot help beating, but on a run or downwind without spi.
Ahh, but have you factored in the energy balance ? Or would you claim that a 150 sq. mtr. sail behind the same 8.1 luff will have 10 times additional lift ? Note that I was talking about light winds right !
When the craft moves at 2.5 m/s then a total area of 5*8.1 = 22.5 sq. mtr is swept for energy (harvesting). The total amount of energy enclosed in the assocated body of flowing air is a finite measure and hence the maximal amount of lift (drive) that can be milked from it is limited as well. My claim is that in light winds the total amount of net energy available for harvesting is the limit to maximal attainable drive and not any secondary measures like sail area as is the case in medium winds. In strong winds the total amount of righting moment is the limit and then too sail area is of negligible importance. So a larger amount of sail area is favoured in mid range winds but not on either the light or strong wind ends. That was my point I wanted to get across in my earlier posting.
Wouter
