oztayls
Member
I have recently purchased a Laser Radial, and have sailed it only once, in a very ligh winds, almost drifting conditions.
My previous sailing background is in other stayed rig boats. The first thing that struck me was the fullness of the radial sail at the luff, and it seems much more so than the standard sail. I am told that quite considerable vang is required in order bend the mast and take up those luff folds. This is fine, but what perplexes me about this is the effect on the leach, which closes a lot. Having such a closed leach in ultra light conditions seems counter-intuitive to what I'm used to. I did try to open the leach as much as possible by tightening the outhaul so that the depth was between 150-200mm, but it still seems very closed to me. I just can't figure out how to remove those huge luff folds without putting lots of bend in the mast with the vang. Of course, the Cunningham was off, no tension at all. Is it best to leave the luff folds in place by having very little vang on so that the leach is more open, or "super vang" the thing to remove the ugly luff folds and have a less-than-ideal closed leach for those conditions? Remember, these were really light conditions. I'm confused, and just wondering if this is something that Radial sailors just live with or are there other tricks?
My previous sailing background is in other stayed rig boats. The first thing that struck me was the fullness of the radial sail at the luff, and it seems much more so than the standard sail. I am told that quite considerable vang is required in order bend the mast and take up those luff folds. This is fine, but what perplexes me about this is the effect on the leach, which closes a lot. Having such a closed leach in ultra light conditions seems counter-intuitive to what I'm used to. I did try to open the leach as much as possible by tightening the outhaul so that the depth was between 150-200mm, but it still seems very closed to me. I just can't figure out how to remove those huge luff folds without putting lots of bend in the mast with the vang. Of course, the Cunningham was off, no tension at all. Is it best to leave the luff folds in place by having very little vang on so that the leach is more open, or "super vang" the thing to remove the ugly luff folds and have a less-than-ideal closed leach for those conditions? Remember, these were really light conditions. I'm confused, and just wondering if this is something that Radial sailors just live with or are there other tricks?
