John,
Just unsubstantiated opinion, but I'd favor positive roach on big light air sails, to grab as much power from up high as possible. And as the sails get smaller for heavier air, go to less roach, partially because it'll be hard to keep the leech from blowing off and creating drag, and partially to lower the center of effort, which will be welcome on a mini. I could see a negative cut leech on sails under 3.5 to 4 meters.

Dave

The trend in Europe at least with new sails whether it be class 2 3 or 5 seems to be a moderate flat head with a straight leach. I do agree with Dave that with a positive roach and the proper batten and leech tension that is a better set up for light to moderate winds. I would guess it's important to get tension on the second batten down from the top to set the stage for the rest of the sail. I'm a little curious as to a high wind sail set up. Is it better to eliminate the fathead or not. If made right it can twist off in the puffs keeping the boat happy. Is this (twist) causing more drag on the sail plane? What is best a happy boat or a draggy boat?

My thoughts are to eventually have 2 sails for the mini. One about 3.5m and one about 4.5 m. Both would have the same luff length. The larger will have about 4'' of roach and about a 22'' head . The smaller will have to be raked more and have the back of the sail cut off straight as much as needed to make it a 3.5 m.

colk2004 said...

US772 said...
My thoughts are to eventually have 2 sails for the mini. One about 3.5m and one about 4.5 m. Both would have the same luff length. The larger will have about 4'' of roach and about a 22'' head . The smaller will have to be raked more and have the back of the sail cut off straight as much as needed to make it a 3.5 m.

That's the small and medium. What are you going to do for a large A lot over here and main land Europe are using class 5 rigs at 5m. There are quite a few 6.5m mini rigs out there, and one company in Europe (think it was Sweden) is selling an 8m light wind sail for their mini (a jaw dropping moment when I saw it on their list mind).

Cheers Col

Wow thats a lot of sail area ! I'm not sure our big dry lakebeds (higher speeds) are conducive to a large sail. I can see a 5.5 or larger on a beach for sure though. I guess It's all an experiment though.

What wind ranges are you using the 5.5? I spoke with some of mu friends from the US that raced mini in France. They said it was a blast. The flying start would be interesting if the wind was in the 20's

for your US surfaces 4.5should be fine unless you have selfballasting tendencies , maybe 5m for a light wind.
keep in mind that the european sails cut specifically for a mini tend to be fuller with much lighter battens,on a lighter mast than you would use on a class 5.
my australian sails were just too flat for cherreiux. they were ripping fast upwind ,but next to useless on the narrow restricted downwind leg of the course.
i repowered my mini with my class 5 sail AND mast ,which gave me the sail area and hieght to get back into a top ten position but with the stiffer class 5 mast I was constantly on 2 wheels upwind,and slower than when i was using my 4.5
it really is a case of horses for courses