"Reefing Point" for Roller Furled Headsail?

[CFR]

Additional question to all of you. I am just thinking to order staysail and need some comments.

I have a 44 feet slup with 15 ton discplacement and standard sails are
40 sqm main, apprx 14 ounze
60 sqm roller, heavy 13 ounze, 100 sqm reacher

nothing else, only an old genua 3 for the roller but this doesnt help because i can not take down the 60 sqm heavy cloth and store somewhere, and the big new genoa will be stronger that the old smaller one.

but even with the heavy cloth he shape is not good with 40% furled . i have a removable cutter stay and a dinghy on my fordeck but i think to get a high footed staysail with approx 18 sqm. also in 14 ounze with a reef to reduce to 12 sqm.

do you think this is big enough to make sense, sofar we are only sailing in the baltic sea and with max 6-7 BFT . i had an old selftacking 18sqm jib which was def. to small with a reefed main and 6-7 bft. but in the atlantik it may look different

Carsten

[islandplanet]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Interesting comments, IP... Do you happen to know just where in the length of the furling line the breaks occurred? I must agree with the above post in that an uncompromised furling line of normal size (ie 8-10 mm on most normal yachts) is not likely to break. Thus it would be of interest to know where the break(s) happened, and if there was a chafe point nearby.

And your point on not relying upon a furled genoa for medium to heavy winds is spot on. We installed a roller Solent jib inside our genoa... something like a #4 or blade, and we will switch to it rather than reef the gennie as the wind gets up, especially to windward. The lighter genoa that we now can fit is much better than the previous one which was built of elephant hide weight dacron. Tacking the genoa with the Solent rig is a PITA, but the advantages outweigh the downsides, at least for us.

Cheers,

Jim

Jim,

One thing I enjoy about my business is that we have an increasing number of witty customers in Oz, which means that I'm frequently spitting coffee on the keyboard when they make comments like "elephant hide weight Dacron".

The Solent rig is a proven winner. Have you ever considered ditching the wire stay and conventional furler in place of a Facnor A-FX (or similar) with kevlar anti-torsion rope? Use a halyard lock at the top and a friction block at the bottom. Whole thing is easily removable and can be stowed with the sail in a sailbag when not in use.

As for the breaks in the furling line, I'll have to quiz the customer who is closer to you at this point, cruising SE Asia in some of my favorite waters.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by islandplanet

Jim,

One thing I enjoy about my business is that we have an increasing number of witty customers in Oz, which means that I'm frequently spitting coffee on the keyboard when they make comments like "elephant hide weight Dacron".

The Solent rig is a proven winner. Have you ever considered ditching the wire stay and conventional furler in place of a Facnor A-FX (or similar) with kevlar anti-torsion rope? Use a halyard lock at the top and a friction block at the bottom. Whole thing is easily removable and can be stowed with the sail in a sailbag when not in use.

As for the breaks in the furling line, I'll have to quiz the customer who is closer to you at this point, cruising SE Asia in some of my favorite waters.

G'Day again IP,

That's an interesting idea! But, would it really make sense for us... a couple of old farts sailing a fairly big boat in locations with fairly frequent abrupt changes in conditions. Your suggested setup, if I understand it correctly, would require considerable foredeck work to segue from light to heavy air conditions. IE, hoisting and then unfurling the inner jib on its self contained furler line. Our previous setup had a removable inner stay with a Highfield lever and hank-on sails. We went to the roller so that there would be no hesitation in changing to the "staysail" when needed, even for lazy bums like us. If one left your setup hoisted, I see little advantage over what we have now other than a bit less weight aloft. Am I missing something?

By the way, just where is your loft located? The name rings a distant bell for me... something about a BOC boat??? At any rate, I find your contributions here to be informative and interesting... keep 'em coming!

Cheers,

Jim

PS We've been hanging out in this part of the world for some years now, but sailed from SF in 1986. Still have some ties in Calif (kids, etc) and we're not yet dinkum Aussies.

[islandplanet]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

G'Day again IP,

That's an interesting idea! But, would it really make sense for us... a couple of old farts sailing a fairly big boat in locations with fairly frequent abrupt changes in conditions. Your suggested setup, if I understand it correctly, would require considerable foredeck work to segue from light to heavy air conditions. IE, hoisting and then unfurling the inner jib on its self contained furler line. Our previous setup had a removable inner stay with a Highfield lever and hank-on sails. We went to the roller so that there would be no hesitation in changing to the "staysail" when needed, even for lazy bums like us. If one left your setup hoisted, I see little advantage over what we have now other than a bit less weight aloft. Am I missing something?

By the way, just where is your loft located? The name rings a distant bell for me... something about a BOC boat??? At any rate, I find your contributions here to be informative and interesting... keep 'em coming!

Cheers,

Jim

PS We've been hanging out in this part of the world for some years now, but sailed from SF in 1986. Still have some ties in Calif (kids, etc) and we're not yet dinkum Aussies.

Jim,

I'm not sure how much more work it could be. Let's say you're on a passage and not having to jibe or tack frequently, the whole thing stays up. Squall comes or you just want reduced sail area at night, roll up the genoa and unfurl the jib. The real benefit I see is for casual sailing when the solent is in the way all the time. Be nice to be able to tack the genoa without having to furl it every time which makes short tacking impossible. I get a bit nervous about not being able to throw a tack in on short notice. In some regards a permanently installed solent stay is a hazard unless you're willing to forego use of the genoa much of the time.

No relation between Island Planet Sails (headquartered in Oregon, USA) and Ocean Planet, which was the name of Bruce Schwab's Wylie designed round the world racer. I knew Bruce from the docks when he headed up the rig shop at a boatyard in Alameda before he started Ocean Planet. I have a healthy amount of respect and admiration for him. There's a philosophical story behind the name which I won't bore you to tears with.