Anchor Riding Sail

[Ken Juul]

Interesting article in the Jan Sailing magazine about anchor Riding Sails.  Going to sew one up over the winter.  According to the article it should be about 24sqft.  We often raft with 1 or 2 other boats, can anybody venture a guess how much bigger to make the riding sail?  I've emailed the author, if I get a reply I'll post.

[jfssail]

Ken, My wife built an anchor riding sail tlast spring from a kit by Sailrite. They have two sizes, 12.5 ft2 and 20 ft2. We built the larger based on others experiences and our space on the backstay.
The C36 web site has an article by Bob Gauvreau whose wife built the smaller Sailrite kit.2004 article.
Steve Christensen wrote an article on his sail, 26ft2, made byKent Sails, for his Ericson 38.  Article in Good Old boat magazine, Vol3, No1 Jan/Feb 2001
Haven't used my sail yet.

Jack F. Stewart
1993 C36 #1233 "Windancer"
Port Clinton, OH

[Ken Juul]

Thinking about how to rig the sail I realized that attaching the tack line to the end of the boom would be easier than working around the bimini.  The article says to make the sail slightly larger.  Here is the authors reply to the question of how much is slightly and about multiple boats.

Measure the length of your boom. Then measure the distance from your backstay to
your boom. Divide the smaller number (backstay to boom), by the larger number
(backstay to boom) which will give you a fraction. This is the percentage amount
more that you want to make the sail. Think of the backstay as a long lever arm,
and of the boom as a shorter lever arm. You need to make up the difference in
sail size.

For instance if your boom is 14 feet, and the distance is 3 feet, the fraction is
.21. Multiply that by your "standard" figure of 24 square feet, (.21 x 24 = 5.04)
and you have the square footage you want to add for optimum performance...keeping
mind this is not a perfect science.

Three boats linked together become one single very broad boat in a way. The
aerodynamics change. Also, unless all three are the same, one is likely to want
to swing less than another. I'd try it with one sail to start with. And add a
second sail to a second boat if needed. That way two boats end up with riding
sails that each can use independently!

[jfssail]

Ken, If you go into the Sailrite web site, they have a good story on their recommendations on where and how to rig their anchor riding sail. Plus its simple to rig on one of the backstays and tying it off the mast base
Jack