Ketch vs Sloop . . . Singlehanding ?

[otherthan]

First can you singlehand a fermosa 41?
nest is a ketch more complicated then a sloop?

rgds

[Sailmonkey]

you can single hand just about anything when it's rigged for it. All you need is a way for the boat to selfsteer.

[foamcore]

I singlehanded a Formosa 41 a goodly number of miles and had no real trouble dealing with the rig. I found the size of the boat to be more of a challange.

[otherthan]

Originally Posted by foamcore

I singlehanded a Formosa 41 a goodly number of miles and had no real trouble dealing with the rig. I found the size of the boat to be more of a challange.

how do they sail?
your honest opinion...dont care if its a tub...love the woodwork and design.

cheers

[foamcore]

It is an OK sailor. Good motion in a sea. The quality veries greatly among boats, if you have a good one, then you will have a lot to love.

[Heikki]

I'm not familiar with Formosa 41, however, I do own and sail both a sloop and a ketch. I sail them both singlehanded and shorthanded.

Both ketch and sloop can be a pain to sail singlehanded if the vessel is not equipped for that. The bigger the boat the more important that is. It is not that much wind that with a forty feet boat the forces on sails and sheets exceed the power of a single man/woman. The boat needs to be rigged to sail singlehanded, you cannot solve problems by muscle power anymore.

For a singlehanded sailor, ketch has a certain advantage - it can steer itself with sails alone when well balanced. The mizzen in general provides a lot of stability. For example, you can reef your main while keeping on sailing your original course with genoa/jib and mizzen. Should you be reefing a bit too late, that can be really handy. When equipped with wind pilot or autopilot, ketch is also easier to balance initially, putting less load to your autopilot.

Should the ketch be cutter rigged, the situation is even better. Just roll out/hoist your jib on the cutter stay, roll in genoa, keep the mizzen up, and drop the main, and in a couple of minutes you have reduced ¾ of your canvas while still maintaining a balanced sail plan.

What is said in the above excludes other properties of a boat, such as hull form and keel type, which have a lot to do with the ease of balancing the boat - regardless if it is sloop or ketch.

[doug86]

Originally Posted by jobi

First can you singlehand a fermosa 41?

Sure. I had a CT41 that I singled handed. Self steering ability is a must IMO. All the caveats about singlehanding apply just as they would with a 41' sloop.

nest is a ketch more complicated then a sloop?

Not when it comes to single handing. You can always choose to leave the mizzen or main down, thereby achieving the same simplicity of a sloop, but the beauty of a ketch is in the wider range of sail combinations, which keeps the rig balanced as one reduces sail.

With all that said, I don't think I would begin my singlehanding lessons with a Fermosa 41.

[JJB]

First can you singlehand a fermosa 41?
nest is a ketch more complicated then a sloop?

No reason you can't single hand a ketch as long as it is designed for single/short handed sailing.
I've got a 72 sloop that isn't a problem to sail solo, but then I have also sailed on 36 footers I wouldn't dare try and single hand.
Everything I have heard about Formosa 40's say they are easy to handle. The only one major pitfall to sailing single handed, if things go a little pear shaped on deck you often aren't at the helm to correct it.
I guess a good example of this, a guy owned a Crowther cat called What's up doc, he was a number of hours out of Honolulu, he decided to get some sleep since the wind was only blowing around 15 knots, while he was asleep a 40 or so knot gust came through and dismasted him. While one might argue he should have put a couple of reefs in his main before he set in for sleep, in his own judgment the weather didn't indicate it necessary.

[Mark1977]

Hey Jobi, did you get a new boat???? let see some pics....