|
Mainsails
Loose footed mainsails are a very old technology that has come back big time. It has a variety of advantages and in my mind few disadvantages. Properly made sails, either loose foot or attached foot, take most of their loads on most points of sail at the clew and the luff of the sail. Properly made attached foot sails have a shelf at the bottom that allows the bottom of the sail to achieve a proper shape when the outhaul is eased. In theory that shelf only comes into play on a reach when out haul loads are somewhat lower. The shelf is supposed to act as an endplate but really has little impact since it only as an endplate when eased which is the time when an endplate is of little use.
Hanging all of the load off of the clew is made possible by modern high strength low stretch dacron sail cloth (as compared to higher stretch cotton or early dacron sailcoths) Eliminating the shelf foot eliminates the need for a flattening reef. It also eliminates the hardware for the foot of the sail. It makes it easier to remove the sail from the boom (an important item when making repairs at sea or just plain taking the sail off for normal maintenance.) It makes it easier to tie in reefs and furls.
To a great extent I think loose footed or attached is only a matter of style rather than real substance but I do prefer a loose foot for the reasons mentioned.
Jeff
|