Foil slots

[Alan Wheeler]

OK so why do some furlers have two slots in the foils for the bolt rope? It's not like you can slide two sails on. I sudeenly wondered if it was necessary to have the sail attached to one side or the other dependant on what way the furler wound up. And then wondered which side I had mine. But is that the reason or not?

[GordMay]

Double foil luff grooves are often used for racing, allowing fast hoists, douses and sail changes.
Cruisers sometimes use them to fly twin headsails* (poled out wing-on-wing) for downwind work.
*Twin running sails are notorious for generating "death rolls", whereas drifters & assymetricals are generally lighter, better-shaped, and easier to handle.

[cal40john]

Some are still used as headfoils for doing peel changes for racing. The instructions for my Harken describe how to take off the drum to be able to use the full hoist racing sails. Mine is a real pain as the headstay has to be removed at the lower end. The newer Harkens come with a split drum so you don't have to release the headstay. Since I essentially don't race, other than a couple of Friday night beercans, I do what the previous owner did, and don't bother taking off the drum. You take the feeder off of the foil, slide the top swivel down to rest on the drum, and put the feeder back on. The luff of the sail chafes on the drum this way. The only time I bothered to do this was to put up the lightweight full hoist genoa in drifter conditions. If there was any wind at all I just used the roller sail.

I suppose you could also use the other slot to rig a twin headsail for running.

John

[cal40john]

Which make had a the second slot 180 degrees around the foil? It seems to me that that one is only good for twin running headsails.

John