I am planning my downwind setup in strong winds. Plenty of these here and important to keep good speed on
passage. 2 jibs are nice but I only have 1 so far. I am considering alternatives for
singlehanding.
L 400
jib is 28 m2, 2 jibs are 56m2 of downwind sail. If one uses second reef in main and 80 % of
genoa as per
lagoon reefing guidelines that can be used up to 33 app is alternative. Shorting
jib to 60% gives you up to 38 kn app. This is enough for area I am sailing in. I would think these app windspeeds we talking 10 + kn
boat speed even without waves.
Sail area in this case 23m2 jib and 32.5 m2 main = 55.5 which is pretty much same as 2 jib setup.
Second reef main does not suffer from shrouds chafe therefore nice wing on wing can be setup by fixing boom against jibe.
In case,
wind increases, one would pack up jib and turn to
wind to get to 3rd reef or drop sail. I have turned in 33 kn true with 1 reef in reasonable vawes and it was non-event.
Anyone has experience up to how much wind one can turn with 2nd reef in main only ? My guess would be 45 kn at least assuming waves do not interfere too much - wait for a relative lull.
Alternative is to have downhaul installed in this setup, so can
winch sail down slowly without turning.