Convergence! - Part II

2005 Moth World Champion Rohan Veal continues his discussion of Moth rigs with a look at sail settings for foiled sailing

One of the most important factors when using a modern Moth sail is to be able to comfortably apply substantial levels of downhaul tension, employing a control style already familiar to windsurfers and multihull sailors. Each year, even before the introduction of foils, I found myself using more and more Cunningham load for better control in windy conditions. With the foils I was now obviously going a lot faster with the reduction in wetted surface of the hull, but it also meant the need to have - and to retain - a much flatter sail; consequently we have redesigned the head and tack of recent sails to better resist and distribute the even-greater loads we are now applying on the downhaul.

When foiling I also found that the boat was a lot more sensitive to sail adjustments in general, making it critical to balance the correct amounts of...

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