Staysail on a boom

I'd like to have an opinion about the right distance to have between the tack of a boomed staysail and the gooseneck of the boom.
The boat is a modern gaff cutter (Wylo II by Nick Skeates) with 3 head sails, staysail, jib and top jib. All three sails are on a pair of sheets at the moment and I am building a new boomed staysail because I want a self tacking boat when I am on my own.
The staysail dimensions are foot 12'8", luff 24' and leech 19'9".

Thanks for your attention

Thierry

[Ian McColgin]

Ahoy there.

If you're going to make a new staysail anyway (can't modify an existing to this) consider the more expensive but absolutely worth it alternative of a camber spar sail. In this unit, the bent and partly rotating spar is in a sleave in the sail running from normal to the luff to the clew. The luff, by the way, has a forward thrusting angle cut into it at the spar/stay connection, allowing for some interesting variations on luff, leech and foot tension.

Otherwise, for a conventional staysail of this size you might not be able to really tell the difference so long as the seperation is more than 6" and less than 12". I've sailed rigs with porportionatly less and more seperation but that range seems to work mostly. Chat with your sailmaker to be sure.

G'luck

Ian

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
We have a diagram, based on the max/min chord depths of the sail, that will give you the proper spacing. Contact maria@briontoss.com and she can scan, fax, or mail you a copy.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss