Update storm sail on torsion rope furler

[toddedger]

I have an update for the naysayers. I went out today and used my mule on a removable torsion rope furler. with a 2:1 halyard there was not overly excessive luff sag. The wind was 30 to 35 knots with max gust reading 44 knots. I ended up dropping my main sail and sailed along nicely to windward at around 6 knots on auto pilot. When I was done I started the motor, grabbed the continuous furler line and furled with ease. For those who don't know, the mule is my boats favorite heavy weather sail. It has less than half the normal luff length, but the overlap of 135% headsail. This overlap does a good job of keeping the center of effort balanced on my sloop rig even with the mainsail down. I have used this sail effectively in fifty knots of wind, and now I have the advantage of filling it up right behind my fuelled 105% from the cockpit. There were a bunch fudud posters last winter that said it would never work. I'm glad I didn't listen to them. By the way I will also add that my new Evolution Auto Pilot did a much better job steering to windward and handling the gusts than any other previous pilot I have used.

[Randyonr3]

you must be keeping a extra bucket of ball aboard that 27 footer.. to leave the docks while the wind is gusting to 44 and going to weather at 6 knots.. thats around 50 knots, and at 50 knots, I'm not sailing, I'm in survival mode.
Your a better man than I charlie brown.

[toddedger]

Well I was on an inland lake connected to lake Michigan, and there was a short fetch with very little wave action. There were a lot of boats out there both power and sail. No buckets of anything really needed.

[Snowpetrel]

Got any pics? interesting idea.

[toddedger]

Not yet. Yesterday was the first sail after a two year mini refit. A buddy just bought a new seaplane, so I hope to get some nice pics this summer.

[minaret]

Where I'm from, a mule is to a ketch as a fisherman is to a schooner, ie a sail flown up high between the masts. What do you call a mule? Sounds very much like a Yankee to me.

[toddedger]

The sail bag the sail came in had "mule" stencilled on it, along with "Morgan Racing Sails". I guess you could debate the name with Charlie Morgan. I think Charlie knew quite a bit about ketches and yawls. All I know is that it works. Racing in flat water on the inland lake I would use a 100% blade, but offshore in Lake Michigan the Mule is the go to sail

[minaret]

Originally Posted by toddedger

The sail bag the sail came in had "mule" stencilled on it, along with "Morgan Racing Sails". I guess you could debate the name with Charlie Morgan. I think Charlie knew quite a bit about ketches and yawls. All I know is that it works. Racing in flat water on the inland lake I would use a 100% blade, but offshore in Lake Michigan the Mule is the go to sail

We aren't the only ones who've had this debate. The term is used for more than one sail, it's just not commonly used here on the west coast, where such a sail would be more likely to be called a Yankee. Never heard it used for a headsail before, that's all.


The "Mule" - Sailing Anarchy - Sailing Anarchy Forums


http://www.dabblersails.com/blog/blo...id=45&pic_id=3


From Dabbler-


"Most sailors have never seen or heard of a wishbone mule. Authorities, expectantly consulted, are reticent on the subject. Eric Hiscock, that otherwise impeccable detailer of little ship gear, ignores the mule. So does Donald M. Street’s Ocean Sailing Yacht. (For shame, Don, and you skipper of an engineless yawl that would love a mule.) Wallace Ross’ Sail Power adds insult to the injury of omission by giving the mule’s name away to a kind of Genoa. J. Howard Williams’ comprehensive Sails gives the mule a paragraph, pointing out it is a “useful sail on a close reach” and offers an alternative name: main backstay sail."

[toddedger]

Interesting links. I think that guy in the pic could use a vang. Because my sail is miter cut is probably why it's still around today. The fact that it's such a work horse makes me think "Mule" is a proper name for it. It's such a staple in the heavy air that I would instantly replace it if it ever gave out. It'll get a lot more use now that it's more user friendly being able to be deployed behind my furled up 150%. Now that my racing days are over I'm down to carrying four sails instead of nine.

One really cool note is that I thought I was going to have to sew on a new luff tape for the torsion rope, but to my surprize it slid right into the existing luff tape behind the the bolt rope. Now I can still load it onto my harken furler foil if I need to in a pinch. As you can tell I'm pretty excited about. This will make my single handing a whole lot safer for me. If I remember right Stumble was the only one that didn't think I was crazy for planing to use a torsion rope in the luff.

[Snowpetrel]

Does it look something like this?

I remember seeing them used as spinnaker staysails, but never realised they (or similar but heavier sails?) where also used as heavy weather windward sails. Interesting.

Did you have any issues with leach and foot flutter? in theory the loads on the sail should be much lower than for a more conventional high aspect storm jib?

Cheers

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by minaret

Where I'm from, a mule is to a ketch as a fisherman is to a schooner, ie a sail flown up high between the masts. What do you call a mule? Sounds very much like a Yankee to me.

Nice pic of a mule Minaret, never had a chance to play with one, but seems like a great way to add effective sail area to a ketch, thanks for the links.

I have long been interested in the backstaysail rig, like this


Seems like a good way to get some of the benefits of the ketch/yawl without the cost and windage of another mast. and with roller furling it would be easy to set and reef. Maybe a small storm jib sized riding sail and balancing sail could work on some boats, sheeted to the targa bar or davits?

I tried it once on my 26 foot sloop. sure powered her up until the wind picked up and it generated so much weather helm than I couldn't steer. Should have used the storm jib rather than the no4!

[toddedger]

That first staysail is close to what mine looks like. Mine has a bit more overlap, the clew is higher, and the miter runs up only a third of the way up the luff. It's got a huge stainless clew ring finished with leather. That is also about the same distance and angle behind the forestay that I'm using it on the torque rope. The genius is how well the center of effort is balanced in high wind. At 30 knots I can drop the main and keep going with about the same weather helm as I would have at 12 knots. Unlike a high aspect blade I think it has a larger sweet spot that does better going thru the wave action. That and the stout and round keel shape make the Morgan 27 shine when beating into the seas offshore against your average 3/4 ton IOR boat.