Ben Hall was at the Gulfport A Cat/F 16 regatta last weekend and there are now picutures available. If you want to see a very creative way to "reef" a wing sail, check out the photos of Ben on Saturday, when it was blowing a steady 20+ with many gusts into the 30's. Thanks for taking these photos Travis!

http://travisedwards.smugmug.com/gallery/4535964_vfZxD#267137936


I was impressed, and thanks for coming Ben. I wonder if we will see wings or soft sails on the DoG cats?

If you look at the leading edge of the reefed wing, it's all wrinkled. I'm wondering if this has something to do with his reefing the sail or if maybe it's the skin material deflecting due to the high wind. In either case, it doesn't look too good. Nice pics though, thanks.

sm

It looks more like compression buckling - the wing is flexing to leeward and the wrinkles are mostly on the windward side.

He's also got a trapeze wire loose.

I don't know but I'll be the loose trap line and the wrinkles are the result of the same thing, a crash! Just a guess though. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

One thing I thought of looking at those pictures, if one of those sections in the sail filled with water while capsized you'd never get it back up.

Now that you mention it, I did see a very small amount of water inside a couple of the lower flap panels, not enough to keep you from righting it. Ben said he was going to put some Goldfish in there! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I was surprised there weren't some small drain holes already on the trailing edges like they use on airplanes to keep moisture from puddling there.

Is this the picture you are discussing?

http://travisedwards.smugmug.com/gallery/4535964_vfZxD#268308072_sLfk8-X3-LB

Very strange "buckling" on the leading edge and flap, but it dont look at all like it is structural? Who calls Ben and asks him what was happening and how the wing is built in those areas <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Also look at his windward shrouds, they have some slack in them. CRAZY! I talked to some of the A cat sailors that weekend and they indeed confirmed this happens.

I suppose the explanation for that is the crew on trapeze is pulling the wing to windward with his weight. We observed the same thing on the Tornado and always took it as a sign to power up <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I am curious what a regular A cat sail weighs versus the wing. I know the wing is built light but how light can you make it?

When you have twin forestays and sheet the main hard (in light to medium winds) the mast get enough support from the twin forestays and the main sheet which makes the shrouds to lose tension. This happens even when you are fully powered up.

/hakan

I'm not going to knock it till I've tried it....Ben is doing small cat sailing a great service so lets not criticize too much.

Would this be considered boomless? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

It doesn't really reef. The top section comes off, kinda like lego blocks.

The leading edge of carbon fairing is definitely buckling. It looks like there is a tube running the whole length of the mast which would be the structural element, so the buckling of the fairing probably isn't a problem.

You can see how much it is deflecting here...
Wing mast deflection

The more I look at the wrinkle on the half wing, I think if the full wing were on, the top half would be pushing off to leeward and forcing the bottom half (where the wrinkle is) to move slightly to windward, eliminating the wrinkle.

With the half wing setup, you can see the support wires all attach at the very top (what would be midpoint on the full wing) so in the half wing configuration there is no leverage or wires keeping it from bowing slightly to leeward. This is also why we don't run our shrouds and forestays to the very top of our masts, there would be no support to keep the mast from bowing out other than the diamond wires, (not enough) and not at all on a Prindle or Hobie 16.

I think it either needs a stiffer, box type, spar or maybe a wire mounting point down a bit from the halfway point?

75 kilos(165 lbs) is the class minimum. In Ben's case I believe his wing was @ 12 lbs heavier than a "normal" rig & sail, and he just had the platform made a little lighter. If I recall correctly he weighed in within a kilo either way at Worlds.

Joe, it was great to meet you at Gulfport, sorry you had to leave, I hope you had a safe trip back. I hope we see you next year or sooner. Tim.

yes, there is a structural tube that suppports the wing, the leading edge isnt structural.

Good to see the wing can get banged up and still sail.

From a Seahorse article on the A-Cat worlds

Hall’s 29ft wing measured in at slightly less than the class maximum of 150ft2, and weighed in heavier than standard at 52lb. However,when Hall weighed everything he took off when fitting the wing, standard rig, plus sail, battens, mainsheet system and so on, he found the comparable figure was some 46lb. Hall’s boat is still at rule minimum and still carries correctors.
A standard A-Cat rig has traveller, mainsheet, outhaul, downhaul, rotation, over-rotation and diamond controls. There are only four controls for the slotted wing. Hall’s wing has an upper and a lower element, each with a twist control. The wing has four controls: a 2:1 mainsheet, camber control (that adjusts flap angle from 0 to 35 degrees), twist for the main element and twist for the flap element. The wing sheets in particularly easily around the leeward
mark when Hall can trim on with a single pull.