I just wonder if you guy's who derotate the mast are doing so to reduce mainsail profile (drag) and if so
how much reduction in drag could this gain?
I'm still very careful with derotation under spinnaker. I mean there is a bottom line there somewhere. What I'm looking for is some nice entry in lighter winds and some flexing of the top to lee in the stronger breezes. The last has the same effect as derotation when sailing upwind. You depower the top and seem to be able to cary more grunt down low. However my mos effective use is in making the final stretch from the bottom mark to the finishline, which at my (club) races is nearly always a reach. By derotating the mast I can calm the boat down on the reach and thus can point slightly higher on this reach then most others while carrying a spinnaker. Letting out some traveller in this situation will really bend of the top and depower the tig enormously. I use this to handle the gusts. However, I do feel that I'm looking for the threshold with respect to breaking the mast, so be very careful everybody. I don't want anybody to just copy these tricks without fully understanding what they are doing and blaming me when it breaks.
Personally I found the superwing mast to be very abuse resilliant but then I also know when to hold back and go for safe.
I don't think I ever derotated the mast while under spinnaker then the rotator arm pointing halveway between sidestay and sterns. And the mast was really bending off then. Ohhh, by the way I do feel that derotation is less dangerous when sailing solo. The mast was designed and build to handle 2-up loads and the 1-up loads are just seriously lower, as a direct result you have noticeable more margin to "play" with. This maybe very interesting to you.
I think the kites are still being cut too full(don't want to sound deluded but I wonder if most sail manufacturers are underestimating the speed potential of these boats?) ; betcha flatter kites will prove faster.
I'll venture to say that that is because you only sail the boat solo. For 2-up sailing you'll want the kite to be slightly fuller. Next time when you order a kite, order it as a specialized singlehander spinnaker, then you indeed get what you want. Just don't expect to win much 2-up races with it.
Hey, by the way, the fastest i've ever gone w/ the kite was when my mainsail was inverted (battens flipped to windward)
if I could figure out how to do this every time I gybed in windy conditions I would. Sounds nuts, but try it...
I had that happen to mu top 3 or 4 battens as well and indeed it felt really fast. I seem to recall that this happens when your top of the mast is allowed to bend away to leeward. This can be caused by derotation.
By once again, to everybody, be careful out there. By derotating your are cutting into your safety margins and once you've used that up, it is SNAP ! Everybody will be doing this at his or her own risk.
Wouter
