Well, I finally brought my boat home for the winter, time to work on it. Does anyone know what the best mast rotation angle is for opitimum power. We sail as a heavy weight crew on an old heavy boat. I have never had a problem with pitch-pole, because I out weight my crew 2:1. I have Rick White's book, and it says between 60 and 80 degrees, but I think most of what is written is for light to medium weight race crews. It seems to me to get the best air flow over the sail around 45 degrees mast rotation would be best. Of course I will have less mast bend and my downwind performance would be hurt, but as it is I cannot get up wind in anything less than double-trap conditions. Some place, I saw some inserts to change mast rotation for wind conditions. Does anyone know if these are class legal?
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Dave,
<br>Don't know what the best angle is but I did have to replace the step because I couldn't find that insert that both you and I both saw somewhere. I think it was in Berman's book.
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<br>My question is: Is the mast always supposed to be rotated to the max? Sheet tension seems to jamb the mast full around against the stops. <br><br>

Yes, part of the 16 is not having any on-board mast rotation control. It is an old simple design which makes the 16 easier to sai. I built my stops up today to where the mast will only rotate 45 degrees to each side. I can cut them down later if I need. I could build changeable mast rotation stops similar to what we saw, but I do not believe that it would be class legal.
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<br>The only time my mast didn't rotate to the stops was when the wind was so light that I could not sheet very tight. Turned out to be a no race weekend.
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<br>hobie on!
<br>David<br><br>