Morgan Ohlson ) writes:

Is it easier to handle a boat with mast to the rear or front? or design it
properly to allow that position?

no difference to sail balance.

it can make a difference to sail performance. it helps if sail is clear
of anyone sitting in the boat. also when pulled in to close hauled
position sailing upwind the back of the sail should not be near anybody
sitting in the boat who would interfere with the flow of air over the
sail. the winds should pass freely over the sail and off the back end.

yes, an important consideration is sail handling. the sailor has to be
able to raise and lower the sail and make adjustments such as untangling
fouled lines. When I sailing my small boats on small lakes and rivers I
frequently reach forward to lift the mast and sail out of the boat, roll
them up, and paddle instead. This is easy to do with a sprit sail. On
larger sprit sails some people add a line called a brailing line to lift
the sprit up to the mast so the sail can be rolled up. Two books by TF
Jones explain quite a bit about sprit sails for small boats. The Ottawa
public library has both books.

When the mast is put at the bow it's to get it out of the way. It pretty
well has to be an unstayed mast, ie no lines holding it up. And there is n
no room for a jib. The mast has to go at the bow on my 7.5 ft boat to make
room for me to be in the boat. On a small boat the crew has to sit in the
middle of the boat so it floats level. The back half of the boat is empty.
That's where I put a backpack with food, water, camera, jacket, etc.

On the two small sailboats I've designed and built one sail is right at
the bow and the other is about 1/3 of the way back from the bow. Both sail
fine. You can find many boats with sails at the bow, New England catboats are
one example although they have another factor governing the size and
location of the sail. They are very fat boats and need a big sail.

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