Jerry

Perhaps I oversimplified it when I said that boats designed for spinnakers...etc.

If the spinnaker has been properly developed you should have no problem, the boat I had in mind was a Dart 18, we've got loads of them over here, about 5 years ago the manufacturer just stuck a spinnaker on them, it was not good, the boat has skegs and as the boat pitched back and forward, the CLR would move back and forth making the boat want to luff one minute and bear off the next, add some rudders that were very swept back and the boat was very dificult.

Bill is right about pole length, but what that really means is the angle of the spinnaker luff, the more swept back this is the greater the lift, so, I suspect the problems encountered by your friend are more down to lack of developement of the overall package rather than just the spinnaker acting on the hull shape.

The fact is that with sufficient developement you can make anything work well. Just look at a Porsche 911, no-one would build a sports car these days with the engine behind the rear wheels, but 30 years of developement and it's a superb car.


John Pierce

[email]stealthmarine@btinternet.com
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