OCSG Sail Sizes (GrahamH)
In the last edition of Gossip, I (SteveR) wrote an article that I hoped would provoke discussion about the use of single sails larger than 44 square feet for two up sailing. I am pleased to report that GrahamH has written a reply to my article…
I did not know (Gossip 193) that canoes with two-up and two sails could have 58 sq ft but - as someone who rarely races and is frightened of having too much sail in a blow - I should like to say that it seems a rule worth keeping, because of its likely influence on the development of our sail rigs. Two sails are less 'efficient' than one, in terms of drive per square foot. However, a two-sail rig, especially the traditional lug ketch, has advantages in terms of manageability and ability to reduce sail quickly.
If, as you suggest, a two-up canoe with 58 sq ft in two sails has, if anything, a slight edge over one-up with 44 sq ft, this seems to me a reasonable encouragement to canoe-sailing couples in family-friendly canoes. A one-up canoe with 58 sq ft could be pretty well the IC 10 sq m trainer that Tyrone Currie produced some years ago - a design for a possible 'serious' racing class but not quite in keeping with our 'messing about in boats'. I am tempted to suggest that members in their eightieth year or above should be classed as two-up for the purpose of this rule, but I would not wish to press the suggestion.
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