Crabclaw

[Stig Hoffstedt]

Just read Kevin Hutchinson's crabclaw sail test experience. Great that you gave it a 2nd chance Kevin.

Maybe a 3rd try is worth the effort. Some years ago the french sailing magazine http://www.voilesetvoiliers.com/ ran a very ambitious test using 10 different rig typs an Optimists an raced them against each other. The crabclaw came out on top, No 1.

Of course the crabclaw is not the winner in headwinds, overall the French results as well as Marchaj's wind tunnel tests are inspiring.

Anyone else out there with personal experiences of clabclaw sails?

[boatsmith]

If the crab claw rig was so efficient then why don't you see them in competition? The record chasers are open to anything that will make them go faster. They are always pushing the envelope. There are many classes from single handed to full crewded and there aren't any of them out there. They can be built very low tech and inexpensively. That is certainly a fine atribute. But even in the cruising world where there are many sailors trying to spend as little money as possibl you just don't see them. I hear lots of folks say they don't nedd engines because they are cruising and don't have any schedule to keep. Then it would seem to me that one would want a rig that would point well. Also the ability to fly specialty sail s that will move the boat in light air is a wonderful thing in my mind. I have not seen any evidence that would make me want to try a crab claw rig on my boat. I really like to sail, sailing fast is more fun than sailing slow and ge wally, sometimes you have to go upwind. I would like to see someone put a crab claw on a T26 and then sail against a T26 with a more conventional rig and see what the results are. This would not eliminate the skill of the sailor from the equation so maybe have 8-10 different sailors round robin and see what the results would show.