Voila, my own homemade
sail has just been finished. Based on a kind of Flat Earth Foot Loose. But more
like Flat Earth's copy, the Sea Dog sail. Also a footloose, so without a flap
under the boom and loosely fitted between the mast and the tip of the boom.
It was a tedious job putting it together, for which many thanks to my wife who really learned the sewing craft.The twin batten sail is not flat, but has a certain curvature. Maybe a little too much. For the connoisseurs:
Bottom panel: camber
10 cm, draft position 25% from the mast (panel 0.95 m long)
Second panel: camber
10 cm, draft position 25% (panel 0.90 m long))
Third panel: camber 5 cm, draft position 15 %
Fourth panel: no camber, no draft.
I would give my next sail a little less camber. It feels as if the battens create enough camber already. Also I am not yet satisfied with the tension of the two battens. They are former sail battens from an old windsurf sail. These battens may not be rigid enough.
The first test on the Kralingse Plas in my hometown Rotterdam was very promising. But due to the trees and changing wind direction I could not really judge how close the sail could get upwind. I reached 35 degrees, sometimes 40 degrees, probably because of the constantly changing wind direction. The heeling force seemed to be between that of a Falcon sail and a Flat Earth sail. At Easter, the real test follows during a tour on the large open IJsselmeer. That's where the more consistent winds rule.
See also my previous posts about <link> 'Tinkering with sails yourself.'
