Sail Ho!

Since we last heard, Martin Scott has been busy on his computer designing a sail for Evolution.  The sail is a bit smaller than the max permitted by the IMCA-UK but Martin thinks he'll be faster if the boat stays sunny side up.  I agree, capsizing is not at all fast.  Martin gave his computer file to a local sail maker and what we see in the following three photographs is how the sail looks on an old tapered Needlespar mast which Martin has in his collection of boat stuff.  Martin is thinking about adding an extra batten between the top batten and batten Nr 2.  At this point He estimates that the boat has cost roughly $2400 US dollars to build and it appears that he's very nearly done.  Martin hopes to launch her this May.  The cost compares favorably against that of a new Laser or Aero don't you think?

Martin has recently ordered a set of Shelley Mk III plans for a friend.  If the narrow Shelley is built with hiking wings, as designed, and equipped with a modern IMCA shaped sail as seen here, it will be a very interesting comparison when the boats go head to head on the race course.  These two designs couldn't be more different if they tried: the Mistral is a narrow waterline, round bilge shape, while the Shelley is a wedge which, with the right skipper, is capable of planing up wind.

Looks good to me.  Martin says that the software he uses for sail design tells one the total amount of cloth required, including allowing for the seams, and then computes the total size of the finished sail.  He temptingly tells me that his design could be scaled down to Classic Moth size.  Hmmm.