On mast rake:

1. how do you determine whether you have found the right balance between more mast rake (allowing to point higher?) and less (allowing to move more forward so to get the transom higher up without getting - too much - weather helm?)
2. I sail a Capricorn and with my new crew have just shifted to a small set (combined 133 kg). With the smaller jib (and spi) up, does this mean that we should sail with less rake (compared with those who sail with the bigger/normal set) as there is less sail area in front of the mast?
3. AHPC instructions say that Capricorn is sailed with more mast rake than other F18s, but is this indeed the experience of Capricorn sailors?
4. does one play around with rake depending on wind force (I hope not) or should rig tension variation be enough to find the right setup depending on how hard it is blowing that day?

This is getting a bit of a headache for me; any help is much appreciated.

Just set it up to AHPC's tuning guide and forget about it for awhile (time to go sail and learn about your boat). In the A-class, the mast rakes have been coming back and typically the limiting factor is the mainsheet going block to block and getting under the boom. It seems like in most of the A-class designs, more mast rake makes the rudders more effective and helps keep the bows up in breeze downwind.

Good luck and have fun with your F-18.

Bob Hodges

So why not cut sail foot away and add the sail area to to of sail??

Actually it is time some really clever bugger created a system to alter mast rake under sail.

Add an adjustable backstay, make the forestay adjustable and move the shrouds forward so they don't have to be retensioned?

Little 6:1 reduction unit in the front?? My PT had adjustable lower forestays for this reason and the Windy 14 also had a tensioner to bring mast forward...But I think I am meaning more radical than that.