[Jeff_H]

An Eastport Pinky, no kidding. Neat boat!!!! Talk about a trip to yesteryear. Whew. Do you know if your boat was based on the Chappelle design or Benford''s Sunrise?

Back to the question at hand. I think that by an large you and I are in agreement in our comments. I did want to clarify how I was using the term ''efficient''. I am using the term efficiency in the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic sense meaning compartively high ligft for low drag and and undesirable side force produced. My point was that modern rigs make sense when coupled with modern low drag high lift hulls and rigs. They make less sense with burdensome, high drag, and inefficient hull/keel forms.

As you have noted, the crabclaw rig exceeds the efficiency of all known sail configurations. That said, there has been a lot of testing of the crab claw rig (including one built with carbon fiber spars and kevlar sails) since the UNESCO sponsored study that Marchaj refers to in his book. The current thinking seems to suggest that a particular crabclaw sail is only efficient in a comparatively narrow wind speed range. Given the crabclaw boom and yard geometry, reefing and depowering are not an option. Crab claw rigs seem to best suited to multihulls since the lose efficiency quickly as the incident (i.e. heel) angle increases. I am not sure that we will see the crabclaw used on bigger boats any time soon.

It is the ability to control sail shape (twist, and powering up and down)and to reduce sail area that is the real strength of modern Bermuda sail plans.

Lastly, I am not sure that I agree that the block intensive sail gaff rig really is cheaper to build or is more reliable over time. My 1939 Stadel cutter had all of its original winches intact, but the blocks were in rough shape and in need of rebuild or replacement.

Respectfully,
Jeff