Mahe 36: Original FP Mahe 36 Thread

[LarryW]

Hi JC,

Where are you off to? Larry & I are getting Kokomo ready too. We are planning on leaving around June 25 -27 for a little over three weeks. We're going to Regatta Time in Abaco in the Bahamas for a little while then on down to the Berry Islands and just take our time.

Enjoy your trip

Eileen

[jean1146]

Hello Eileen

We are leaving tomorrow heading south. The keys,and dry tortugas.We will make it to the Bahamas next year.I envy you,it is so much easier for you to go accross.Have a safe trip,show us some pictures.
JC.

[Eleven]

Jeff and Martin, Well Done. What a great feeling it must be, that first day of testing. Your boat.
Sorry, is that envy dripping allover your carpets. It comes off real easy.
Happy days.

[LarryW]

Hi All

I have waited for some ideas for cover for the helm, on boats like mine with the factory bimini. But havn't see any. So I guess I will be the first.

Larry

[kev&jo]

Hi Jeff & Marin.

Congratulations...!

Great news on getting your boat, I hope you resolve your problems and carry on enjoying it. We are now in Lanzarote having some great sailing. The boat is going better than I expected.

How are you coping with furling the Spifurl?

Regards,

[Cotemar]

What is the latest Mahe 36 hull #. FP seems to be putting a lot out. They must have a few shifts running.

[Wayward Wind]

Mine will be hull 92. I haven't been told when exactly it will be ready, but it should be sometime in July.

JohnC

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Hi Seadog Johnny, when we came to fetch our Mahe 88 at the end of May, there we 7 mahe's lying in the harbour. One of them was number 92. We have a picture of it, and will try to attach it. If this does not work, send me your email address.
Number 92 is the left one on the picture. You need to enlarge it and have some fantasy. Check the options!

We could get our boat not earlier than may 28, although it was probably already finished early April. There is a bottleneck in transport from the factory to the harbour, they need to get police assistance with 3 motorbikes, we have been told. Probably our boat was already produced in winter on stock.

Also we have been told that boats are not processed in strict order.

We are presently on our way back to the Netherlands, lying in Guernsey. We do a lot of anchoring and mackerel catching (and eating).

Wish you much luck with your boat.
Jef, Marin

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Hi Kev & Jo,
He have some experiences with the spifurl, not so much since the wind adheres to Murphy's law. When we had to go NW, the wind was NW. Now we have rounded the point of Bretagne, and the wind turned to N and then NE. Because we have to go NE. So if somebody tells you that you can not control the weather, well it seems we can.

We had no instruction about the use of the spifurl, since on the day of the sea trial there was too much wind.
The first day we left La Rochelle, we used it briefly. I was disappointed because it seemed that you could only use it in a narrow band of apparent wind. Later we have learned better how the use it, and now I am more enthousiastic:
The spi collapsed at lower apparent wind figure because I did not want the spifurl to rub on the railing. Now I discovered that you should raise the spifurl halyard as high as possible (with a short knot on the top), so that the bottom of the spifurl come higher; and does touch the railing later.
Also we learned that the spifurl forestay should be loosened during sailing. Gives a better performance. And of course tightened during rolling.

We found that the spifurl can be used up to 80 degrees true wind, corresponding to 50 degrees apparent wind. That is quite good I think, Also we even reached a maximum speed of 80 % of the true wind speed; e.g. in 6 knots of true wind, boat speed was 4.8. This was the best situation, normal was 70-75 % of wind speed. We made e.g. 7 knots speed at 10 knots true wind.

Handling is easy. You can do almost everything singlehanded, only during furling and unfurling it is nice to have a second person on the sheet.
For furling we head straight down the wind, and furl with the spi behind the main sail. We were told not to use it without mainsail. On furling we try to keep little force on the sheet, so that it is rolled loosely; I have the feeling this is better for the sail. We also remove it immediately after use.

A long story. I hope that we can learn something from your experiences. Can you answer?
For all other: while the spifurl is presently in the price list, it is also possible to order with gennaker from FP. I do not know what I would have chosen, gennaker or spifurl, had I known that both are possible. Also I do not know why a spifurl is easier to handle that a spi sleeve system; this seems cheaper to me.

Our spifurl is not very white! See the photo.

Kind regards,
Jef

[DtM]

Jef,

Did you choose those colours !!!!

Does the spifurl have a continuous line furler or a drum ?

daniel

[Wayward Wind]

Thanks, Jef & Marin. I have emailed you my address. I wonder if they will throw in the dinghy that is attached to the davits?

JohnC

[kev&jo]

Hi Jef,

I have the same results you have had, good, thanks for the tip about the main, will try that next time, should make things easier. I am also going to rig a small double block near the furling head to keep the line tighter to the drum.

John - fingers crossed for you mate, you never know and well worth having.

[DtM]

Does anyone know whether the factory is now fitting continuous line furlers off the bowsprit. For both the spifurl and the gennaker the furling line is very long.

[Gordon]

Hi Daniel,
We have just fitted a Profurl NEC 4T furler to our Orana, what a change and improvement on the drum furler, very easy to use. Do not think the factory will fit this furler but the Newport boys may arrange a swap from drum to endless if you ask.

Gordon.

[Wayward Wind]

Daniel

Speak to Geoff of Quantum Sails (gcouell@quantumsails.com) about the Profurl endless furling system.

JohnC