When I put my Contender trapeze on a Windmill it did scary things to
the mast. Of course I'm nearly 200# wet, so maybe you'd get away with
it. Was at times quicker upwind as it would plane. But reaching was
tough, as the boat wants to flip to windward much easier than a
Contender. If you went to the US SAILING web site and looked up the
Portsmouth Index Modification tables you would find that removing the
jib and adding a trapeze cancels each other out. Still end up with
89.5.
On the other hand, sailing single handed on a boat usually with a
crew is supposed to be faster and takes a handicap hit!
I found it better to sail single handed with main alone upwind and
pull up the jib on free legs.
Dave Ellis
:: Recently I've become obsessed with the idea of rigging
:: my Windmill with a Trapeze so I can sail single handed
:: and without a jib. I think that there should be a
:: separate rating for sailing the boat without a jib and
:: with a trapeze and would love to hear other peoples
:: thoughts on this idea. My reason for such an idea is so
:: people without crew can sail their Windmill PHRF without
:: crew. I've heard that 90 percent of sailors quit sailing
:: their boats due to a lack of available crew. I've been
:: very interested in the Contender for some time because
:: it's a single handed boat and you don't have to mess up
:: your back from hiking as in a Laser but I have a
:: perfectly good Windmill that could do the job with some
:: modifications. Any thoughts on this?
