Sailing jib alone

[jbinbi]

Went out yesterday for a daysail in my 380 on the bay. Winds were steady 20-25 gusting to 25 to 30, whitecaps and short steep chop of about 3-4'.

For a real sail, Lagoon recommends 1 reef in main and 1 reef in genoa upwind, maybe shaking out the genoa reef if on a reach.

Too much work for the last sail of the season for 5 hours, so just went out with the genny. That is what I would have done if I was on my monohull. Wasn't sure how this would perform on the cat, since the main gives lots of power, though on my boat, the genoa is fairly large.

Boat sailed great, was easy to do, we did a bunch of downwind sailing, so gybing was trivial, kept up between 5 and 7 knots (end of the season with probably a real dirty bottom). Was very happy. Also, so much easier than sailing a mono, and not so tired at the end of the day from being braced from heeling and going back and forth to grind each time.

[Cotemar]

In those kind of winds we just gib sail also.
Boat goes just as fast and gib reeling is quick and easy.
Electric winches make it all look easy.

[UpOnStands]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Went out yesterday for a daysail in my 380 on the bay. Winds were steady 20-25 gusting to 25 to 30, whitecaps and short steep chop of about 3-4'.

For a real sail, Lagoon recommends 1 reef in main and 1 reef in genoa upwind, maybe shaking out the genoa reef if on a reach.

Too much work for the last sail of the season for 5 hours, so just went out with the genny. That is what I would have done if I was on my monohull. Wasn't sure how this would perform on the cat, since the main gives lots of power, though on my boat, the genoa is fairly large.

Boat sailed great, was easy to do, we did a bunch of downwind sailing, so gybing was trivial, kept up between 5 and 7 knots (end of the season with probably a real dirty bottom). Was very happy. Also, so much easier than sailing a mono, and not so tired at the end of the day from being braced from heeling and going back and forth to grind each time.

would you have been wet if on your monohull?

[tomfl]

I do a lot of sailing with just the headsails. But I also make sure the main sheet is tight since I don't have backstays. Even with backstays it is probably a good idea to have some tension on the main sheet.

[seaskip]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Went out yesterday for a daysail in my 380 on the bay. Winds were steady 20-25 gusting to 25 to 30, whitecaps and short steep chop of about 3-4'.

For a real sail, Lagoon recommends 1 reef in main and 1 reef in genoa upwind, maybe shaking out the genoa reef if on a reach.

Too much work for the last sail of the season for 5 hours, so just went out with the genny. That is what I would have done if I was on my monohull. Wasn't sure how this would perform on the cat, since the main gives lots of power, though on my boat, the genoa is fairly large.

Boat sailed great, was easy to do, we did a bunch of downwind sailing, so gybing was trivial, kept up between 5 and 7 knots (end of the season with probably a real dirty bottom). Was very happy. Also, so much easier than sailing a mono, and not so tired at the end of the day from being braced from heeling and going back and forth to grind each time.

Another one gone to the dark side!
Ps. Pardon the trim. Experimenting

[Don C L]

I do it often in my mono, but good to remember many boats will need good speed or they will not want to tack when jib sailing. So if you are sailing in close quarters you need to be aware of the boat's limitations.

[seaskip]

Sorry. An explanation of the pic would probably be useful. �� Similar conditions to the OP and jib only.

[jbinbi]

Originally Posted by UpOnStands

would you have been wet if on your monohull?

Always had a dodger on my monohulls, so that catches most of the spray... Would have been way more exciting in the mono, and probably the only thing I miss about sailing in the cat is the 'being in the groove' feeling. Hard to explain, you just know it when you have the sails well trimmed, on the appropriate angle of heel, just slicing through the water. You can feel that. I just don't get that in the cat. But as I have told others, after sailing half a century, this is the best boat buying decision I have made!

[UpOnStands]

similar in my opinion to powder snow skiing. Get it just right and the forces balance out. the results are exhilarating -- until the muscles start complaining.

[clownfishsydney]

We often sail our cat just using the genoa or screecher. Certainly is much easier than using main and in most cases we get enough speed to satisfy us.