Sailing the B Plan

Quite breezy yesterday evening, so I took the new Edge B Plan out for a first sail. I didn't realise that it would take a bit of setting up, but now I know...

As the foot of the B Plan is shorter than normal I had to add a 7cm loop of string to make it work with my clew outhaul - you may not need this, it just depends how far out your clew outhaul goes.

The boom sits a bit higher than normal, but my kicker didn't need any adjustment. I didn't realise the B Plan sail would be loose-footed - but it worked fine.

For the halyard, if (like me) you have a wire and hook rack system you need to add a 70cm length cord at the top of the sail, measured from the head of the sail to the top of the loop in the cord. That allowed me to shackle my halyard to the cord and use it as normal. I guess if you have a rope halyard and it is quite long you may avoid this.

On the water, the B Plan was a lot smaller than the normal sail and therefore very easy to handle even in big gusts. My wife was out in a Laser 4.7 and I would say the two boats were going at a similar speed. Jon at Edge had done a nice job of making the sail out of the one I ripped and the shape looked good. It is unlikely to be used for racing, but it will be useful for training/practice in strong winds I think. ⛵