[Rhodes22-list] Sail Plan Changes

[Brad Haslett]

Ok, boys and girls, put your thinking caps on!  Here's the deal, the sails
rep I've been visiting with has a 9.2C just like mine that he raised the
boom 10 inches on for better headroom (mine is about 5' 11 1/8 inches above
the cockpit which gives me 1/4 inch to play with versus getting whacked
while standing up).  He also shortened his boom length 21 inches which I
really don't want to do.  He says the boat handles better, has less weather
helm, and the center of effort moves forward.  Other than the obvious loss
of sail area (less than 5% by my calculations) what can be anticipated in
changes of handling characteristics? He (the rep) says it moves the center
of effort forward and the boat is more stable based on his experience.

Now this from Stan's site: *Lowering the boom, automatically lowers the sail
inside the mast, which in turn lowers the center of effort of the sail,
therefore increasing the stability of the boat without cutting sail area.
In fact, boat speed actually increases slightly by lowering the boom.

*Can we assume then that raising the boom will decrease stability and if so
by what margin?  What is your experience? Loss of speed is not an issue with
me. Everytime I think about these things I get a headache.  I'm sure Stan
could answer this in about 2 seconds but I'm afraid he'd want a donation for
his experience.  That greed thing again.  I'm hoping someone can think this
through and give an informed opinion at a reasonable cost.  Like free!

Brad
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