Professional BoatBuilder - February-March 2018

56 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER

RIG DESIGN: Fractional Update

and we just walked away from them.

 is con rmed the decision to have

enough sail area for excellent light-air

performance in exchange for ree ng

earlier than other boats.

Another attribute of Petrel’s

rig with its full-batten main is

the ability to motorsail as close

as 15° to the apparent wind.

and mizzen staysails were frustrated

that they could not get by us. As we

approached the  nish when entering

the Reach, the wind went very light,

wind, our best speed was about 5.5

knots over the bottom; downwind in

3–5 knots of apparent wind she kept

moving at 2–3 knots.... What impressed

me most was how closewinded Petrel

was. Strapped down tight she was fully

powered up at an apparent wind angle

of about 28 degrees, but we could

pinch as high as almost 20 degrees and

still keep her moving e ciently. Her

wake was exceptionally clean (Jay

himself remarked on this several

times, with self-evident pride).”

It should be noted that this early test

sail was in smooth water without the

windage of the roller-furled dri er/

reacher, the dodger, and the radome

on the a goalpost. Later, when she

sailed in the 2013 Eggemoggin Reach

Regatta broad-reaching toward the

 nish with the dri er/reacher set and

occasionally hitting 8 knots, a couple

of Concordia yawls with spinnakers

On a later test sail Petrel is in

her near- nal con guration (only

the sail pack is missing) in this

photograph by Sail’s editor,

Peter Nielsen, before he came

aboard and took the helm. He

later wrote, “I thoroughly enjoyed

the feel of the tiller and the

responsiveness of the boat,

which displayed a rather star-

tling eagerness to point high

and go fast that will no doubt

embarrass a good many more-

contemporary designs.”

With Charlie Doane on the helm, this early

test sail was under ideal conditions:

smooth water and minimal windage (no

furled drifter/reacher, no dodger, and

no radome). Built by Walter Greene back

in 1983, Petrel’s hull is wood-epoxy over

an Airex core. Dimensions are: 32' LOA;

27'6" LWL; 8' beam; 6'9" waterline beam;

2'9" draft (board up); 5'6" draft (board

down); 7,950 lbs design displacement;

8,500+ lbs actual displacement.

BILL HENDERSON

PETER NIELSEN

FractionalRig171-ADFinalr.indd 56 1/3/18 8:19 AM