First outing with the Crab Claw sail

We spent a couple of hours trying to work out how long all the lines should be, where to attach them and how to adjust them. After the simplicity of just plonking in a laser rig, it seemed pretty complex with lines everywhere all only a vague idea what it was supposed to look like.

Then we went for a sail to try it, and even managed to take some short videos.

https://youtu.be/lR_2MyIq5xc
https://youtu.be/RVYTApxmJw0
https://youtu.be/Q0LVeRyGtbM

I forgot to take any photos though.

It's a very different experience to the laser rig, in several ways.

• The boat doesn't feel stressed, even in gusts that would have had the laser mast groaning in it's socket. The shroud and backstay take all the load, so there's very little no load on the beams or twisting the hull. A 2:1 mainsheet was easy to hold and a lot of the time we just held both parts.
• There's no need to tack or gybe. The long hull with very little rocker doesn't turn easily, and tacking got harder as the wind got stronger. Shunting is still very new to us, and we kept getting tangled, but it felt natural for the boat and there are no large forces involved.
• We didn't need the steering oar. It spent most of it's time bungeed to a hiking bench. The boat would naturally turn towards the wind, or bear away if we pull the sail in harder, which didn't seem to affect the speed - just like it says in the book. 
• Hoisting and dropping the sail while afloat was really easy.
• We got taken aback a couple of times and the rig fell down. With the relatively lightweight windsurfer mast spars, this wasn't a big deal. We found it easiest to free the halyard and pull the sail to the mast foot, then the mast could be raised with one hand and the sail hoisted.

There are still plenty of things to work on though.

• I'd like the sail a little higher on the mast, to move it forwards because the boat wants to turn into the wind a bit too much. That will require a longer shroud and back-stays.
• The tack line is too thin; we're handling it a lot so it needs to be an easy size to grip, not just sized for the relatively light load it carries.
• Bungee powered back-stays sound wonderful - I can't wait to try them.
• Brailing lines, we'll probably need them at some point.