[bob chaisson]

OK……., I just wanted to toss in a simple quote, it seemed like you fractional fans were having a field day beating on the masthead rig and that just struck me as very one sided and maybe at bit closed minded. Keep in mind, your dragging me into this debate against my will but I’m easy, so I’ll oblige. From an engineering standpoint, I personally like having a big steel cable tied to the tip of my mast and the butt of my boat, it just gives me a warm and fuzzy. Oh yea, and just for the record, my masthead rig does not have forward lower shrouds. But anyway, to the point. The professional opinion that I quoted substantiates thusly. "The masthead rig has a number of practical advantages, the main one being that it is easy to work with. It’s undeniable that it only offers a limited range of sail trim possibilities but the big advantage right from the start is that it is easy to set up and tune." At this point he details tuning a masthead and then tuning a fractional. I don’t think anyone will dispute that tuning a fractional is significantly more complex. Additionally, while under sail, maintaining trim on a fractional rig involves greater effort. We have already the deficits of running backstays ie. they require almost constant attention, but," If you have a fractional rig without running backstays, the upper shrouds should be set up tight. This will transmit tension into the forestay. However, you will have no way of adjusting it while sailing or be able to alter the profile of the (headsail) to suit the prevailing conditions. On a masthead rig, the tension on the forestay is only controlled by the backstay. Again, the tension on the backstay, and thus also on the forestay should be less if the wind is free and light and a choppy sea disturbs the set of sails. A slack backstay and consequently slack forestay will help make the headsail profile deeper and thus more powerful." As to angled spreaders, "It’s harder to control the profile of the mainsail accurately than with running backstays. Even with angled spreaders, the tension on the forestay decreases with increasing mast bend. A rig like this has to be set up really tight in the first place to achieve good results when sailing upwind. The mainsail is the fractional rigs primary driving force. Upwind you must control the profile of the main with considerable care. Otherwise, the sail plan’s center of effort will move too far forward and might result in lee helm." Anyway, that’s enough of that. If you want more, buy the damn book, it’s only 20 bucks. Then you to can argue the virtues of a masthead rig.
But seriously though, glad I could add some enlightenment. Never sailed a masthead rig and had no opinion until this post. Never could resist supporting the underdog. Just bought the book and haven’t even finished reading it. The guy makes a hell of a lot of sense though, so I thought his input might be worth mentioning. Thanks for all the info in this thread, I’ve learned a lot from it.
You actually made me go back and study the book (this is a good thing).