I agree with John's post and would like to add that a shelf can be sewn into either type. The main advantage in a loose footed main is that when you ease the outhaul when bearing off to a reach, the sail goes "whop" and is instantly fuller. A big thing when rounding a weather mark in a race, but not otherwise. Jerry jerrymontgomery.org ----- Original Message ----- From: <JazzYachts@aol.com> To: <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 1:19 PM Subject: Re: M_Boats: Does a loose footed main sail perform better
In a message dated 12/13/04 1:08:43 PM Eastern Standard Time, nbundek@earthlink.net writes:
he purchased a new "loose footed" main and had in increase in performance.
I don't think the difference between a loose-footed mainsail and a mainsail that is tracked on a boom would be detectable, if both sails are competently shaped, set up, and trimmed. One imagines there's something of an "endplate" effect with a mainsail tracked on a boom combined with a substantial "shelf" cut into the sail.
The improvement in performance you mention might simply have come about because the sail was new and not blown out---not because it was loose footed.
The loose footed mainsail is a little quicker to strike into its bag if you must dismantle the whole rig at the end of the day.
Cheers, John _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats