Princess'

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

I know we've been over this before...but I am wondering about the Princess performance and her ability to exceed hull speed. Is the run flat enough to make significant speeds with enlarging the downwind sailplan? She sails flat, so the bottom should be in a good position to surf if the bottom is flat enough. I have been asking about a spinnaker on a pole for years, like Graham has recently used on the EC22. I have short range plans to add one to my CS 20, as soon as the technology is available. I eventually want to build a sailboat with accommodations for cruising. After performance sailing it is hard to think about moving strictly at hull speed. So what about a Princess 22 and the asymmetric spinnaker? Maybe even complicating the rig with side stays on the main to aid in supporting the added forward stresses and make jibing easier with the shute out front.

[Designer]

The Princess run is certainly flat enough to easily exceed hull speed. The rig is fairly conservative as she was intended for family sailing. The stability and structure will handle more sail if the crew are up to it.

Because the EC07 was sailed in mostly fresh winds I did not get to try out the schute very much. On the first day when we sailed out of the wind I got to try it out for a while in the light stuff. It seemed to work very well and I think that it enabled us to make Gasparila pass before dark which is no place to be if you can't see the breaking bar. We pulled it down earlier than we needed to because the running back stay cleats did not arrive until after we had left and I did not trust the plastic ones.

I am hoping to get out and sail the boat some more this week.

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

Do you think the Princess 22 is a good candidate for such a setup, or would we be better off to start from scratch and design in more go fast features? Wider transom and longer planing area, etc.. Most of the faster boats have a greater beam to length ratio than the sharpies. Sounds like the Princess may be one of the best compromises between comfort and speed.

Cant wait for the report on your next sail. Isn't that the way of things? You get set up for lower wind and a bigger downwind sail plan and then it blows like crazy.