Posted By: Mary
Are wing masts practical for small cats? - 03/10/03 10:03 PM
Are wing masts feasible for use on small cats? During all this recent controversy about the Little America's Cup being revived, some people have talked about putting wing masts on the F-18HT's and others have mentioned that C-Class technology, including wing masts, could be adapted to smaller cats, as well.
But first of all, I am not clear on whether people are all talking about the same thing when they refer to wing masts. There are wing masts that are just normal masts with a fabric sail but the mast is deeper from front to back. And then there are very deep wing masts with a relatively small section of soft sail, and then there are wing masts that are totally hard wing. So what is the correct terminology for these various types of wing masts?
And, also, I vaguely remember that in the early days of the Tornado, they were experimenting with a wing mast (deep wing with some soft sail??) and, although it was faster than the soft sail, it was rejected as not being practical because the mast had to be lowered whenever the boat was on shore -- too unstable and blew over too easily.
But first of all, I am not clear on whether people are all talking about the same thing when they refer to wing masts. There are wing masts that are just normal masts with a fabric sail but the mast is deeper from front to back. And then there are very deep wing masts with a relatively small section of soft sail, and then there are wing masts that are totally hard wing. So what is the correct terminology for these various types of wing masts?
And, also, I vaguely remember that in the early days of the Tornado, they were experimenting with a wing mast (deep wing with some soft sail??) and, although it was faster than the soft sail, it was rejected as not being practical because the mast had to be lowered whenever the boat was on shore -- too unstable and blew over too easily.