The above two replies might be glitches, as they are copies of Carl's previous replies... a curious bug!
Camber or not to Camber ... that is the question! Heh. I think the material used for the sail will play a big part in deciding to use camber. Stretchy material like some nylons will stretch along the weave in one direction and give some camber. Other materials, like polyester ripstop or mylar won't stretch and would need camber built into the sail. Camber itself does make the sail work better than a flat sheet due to lift generated from the airfoil shape much like an airplane wing.
As a square-sailing captain of 7 years, do not make billowing, rounded sails! Get your square sailes sheeted in tight. It may not look the nicest, but you won't complain when the other guy is madly clawing off a lee shore and you're raking his hull at an angle where his guns can't reach you!
Whoah, tug, awesome pics!!! OT: Tug's pics look quite apt, with regards to camber... You could allways get sheets of model yacht sail material (no idea what its called, sorry) because the sail material on my two (model) yachts works nicely...
I have enough material to make 4 sets of sails for Minerva, plus a spinnaker (period inappropriate? lol), so a little experimenting won't hurt.
I found this whilst looking at how scale rigging might be done, just exercising my google-fu. Thought you guys might find it useful. It seems pretty comprehensive, and there's lots of pretty diagrams. http://www.all-model.com/cmb/cmb-1.html
