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[quote=yurdle][quote]Square top offers you not only power in light wind, but good depowering in high winds as well. You have to bend the mast and have tight main sheet. Yes, it is harder to do without prebend, but if you bring mast rotation arm as close to boom as possible, tight main sheet will bend you mast. Also it will release the top of the square top sail, spilling that upper wind. With limited rotation you are not fighting diamonds, but bending you mast in frontal plane. And yes, limiting rotation is depowering feature by itself.
Anything wrong here? BTW, I do have swept spreaders, but no prebend. I think prebend theory is younger than my boat.[/quote]

I agree, that is the best way for me to flatten the main, and unfortunately I haven't used it much.  I needed to loosen my diamonds a touch.  TBH, I really don't remember how I set it that day, but usually I set it for the best entry to the wind thinking I'll rotate it farther if I need and forget all about it.  WAIT...totally misread your post.  No I think that it would depower more if I let it rotate all the way, and bend on its minor axis (straight from Rick White's book..)  Limiting all rotation would make for some ugly entry into the wind, but I don't see it flattening the sail.  Maybe it would spill the top a touch more, but that doesn't really affect the total power generated like flattening the sail.

[quote]pretty radical and expensive changes to a 30yr old boat if you currently have straight spreaders....

which is why most people would be better off selling an old 5.2 for $1500 and buying a old hobie tiger for $5000[/quote]
I actually disagree with you here, but I think it's pretty subjective.  In my situation, if I fix the hull, I'll report back the consequences of adding swept spreaders and new diamonds if I can't find another mast.

As for the 20:1 and controls to the wire, I don't think that's a necessity.  It would be nice just to be able to set it and forget it flattened compared to the current set up.[/quote]

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