Hi Jennifer, What model boat is this on, and who is the sailmaker? It is normal on modern high performance sailboats to push this limit a little bit, but usually not on cruising boats. Often you can lower the boom slightly to keep it from hanging up. My Sage 17 with a Pattison sail catches on the backstay in very light wind and I have to pull the boom across manually, however I can also lower the boom about an inch or two from the maximum height position to prevent this. You might notice most of the really fast racing sailboats with fractional rigs usually have a backstay flicker on the masthead. It pulls the backstay out of the way during tacks, if you slack it. None of the M boats are designed to need this. Do you have an old main you can compare to, to see if they really cut it wrong? I'd probably play with things a bit like the boom height to see if you can make it work, as cutting the sail smaller will reduce performance. How does your mast rake look? Do you have noticeable weather helm upwind in strong winds? Most M boats do well with a lot of mast rake to create more lift with the rudder, and that also gives more backstay clearance. Sincerely, Tyler Sage 17 #0 Goshawk ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jennifer Wood" <jennifer@buskersguidetotheuniverse.org> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, June 24, 2024 10:14:03 AM Subject: M_Boats: Problems with new sail Long story short, I asked for a sail cut to OEM size and shape, and they sent me one with a giant roach that hangs into my back stay. When I asked them to fix it, this is the sail maker's reply. Is this for real, or is it a brush-off?
not completely surprised the sail hits the backstay...It would go through on a tack and is normal. Fully understand the customers mindset. We could trim some of the roach off not too big a deal
I can't see this working well in low winds, and bashing the sail into my rigging doesn't seem good for either. Given how thoughtfully the boat was designed, is this going to mess with balance and performance? Thanks for your thoughts. --Jen