Hi, Dick Good to see yet another former Thistler joining the ranks of Montgomery sailors. I suspect the optimal mast rake varies from design to design. Both the M15 and 17 have pretty large and efficient rudders relative to the rest of their lateral area, so it makes good sense to ask them to carry a larger share of the load than perhaps some other boats, at least when beating. Tod Mills M17 #408 BuscaBrisas <==was out last weekend Thistle #2531 Steadfast <==hasn't been on the water in a while -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+htmills=bright.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+htmills=bright.net@mailman.xmission.com ] On Behalf Of Dick Straubel Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 5:51 PM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: M_Boats: Mast Rake Have often read in Jerry's emails that he prefers to rake Montgomery masts slightly because it makes the boats go faster. Is the relationship to mast rake and boat speed unique to Monty? Back in the old days when my gut was small enough to let me use hiking straps, I raced Thistles and Flying Scots. We tried to get the masts perfectly verticle or raked forward just a tad because it improved windward performance -- better pointing. Were we kidding ourselves? Perhaps we were trading reaching speed for windward performance. Dick Straubel --------------------------------- How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates. _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats