Multihull rigs and sails - Part I

Torbjörn Linderson of Marstrom Boats in Sweden begins a new series of articles looking at development in multihull spars and sails. He begins with a summary of current popular rig types

The America's Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race have done a great deal to integrate what is often still seen as two more or less separate activities: the specifications of the rig and the optimisation of the sails.

The mast is a stick to hoist sails on, but tailoring its dynamics to the sails and vice versa will always give dramatic improvements in performance. This is most evident in dinghy classes such as the Finn, the 49er and 18-foot skiff, and also in smaller catamarans such as the Tornado and A-cat.

For larger boats the rig is more usually typeformed by a 'cornering' rule such as the IMS, or by traditional thinking on production boats. While multihull rigs continue to be regarded as marginal, certainly in the context of yachting as a whole, I believe that a study of rig development in the multihull world will give a taste of solutions and considerations that will become increasingly valid for high-performance monohulls. This is the first in a series of articles that will begin by checking in with some fundamental characteristics of multihull rigs. It will be followed by a series of case studies on specific boats where sail design aspects will also be further expanded upon.

To read the remainder of this article please go to the March 2004 edition of Seahorse, available at selected newsstands or by calling: + 44 (0) 1590 671899 or by email at: info@seahorse.co.uk

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