Sail combinations

[carstenb]

Giant had some excellent advice on sail trim. I'll repeat part of it, because you might not have understood it completely. If you're sailing hard up on the wind, move your mainsail sheet car across the traveller until it is past center (towards the wind side). This means you will be pulling the boom across when you sheet in and not down, which in turn means your sail will continue to maintain twist.

Another poster noted that in light wind, it is a good idea to loosen your mainsail halyard a bit until you see some small horizontal ripples in the sail - now you have deeper draft and the boat will pull better through the waves. Good idea to also loosen you boom outhaul an inch or two

The same is true for your genua. Loosen the halyard an inch or two. Tighten it up again when the wind increases.

[RainDog]

Originally Posted by giant

The poster is looking at tips for sailing hard into the wind so don't think the drifter is going to help him much there not that I have ever used one. Good sail to have for off the wind though.

Drifter is just a large genoa made of lighter material. It should point as well as any other genoa/jib in light winds.

[Cheechako]

I'd go Yankee and full main in the conditions you describe. Going to weather no staysail will be just as good as dealing with it up.

[robert sailor]

Drifters are not great for pointing in any air, nothing will be better than a well cut well trimmed genoa.

[RainDog]

Just to make sure we are talking about the same thing.... when you say drifter do you mean (form Port Townsend Sails):

"The drifter—also called a reacher—is a time-honored, handy, and versatile sail. Unlike other light air sails, it carries satisfactorily on all points of sail. A drifter generally allows a vessel to sail close hauled and to tack, and it’s very easy to control when set and struck. This sail is essentially a large, powerful, hanked on genoa built of light weight fabric. Its intended wind range is 3-12 knots apparent, and its size on a sloop generally ranges from 140 to 160 percent of the fore-triangle area. A drifter can be made of
nylon, Dacron, or a laminated sailcloth made of various “exotic” fibers."

or are you thinking of something more like a Code 0?

[ctl411]

Drifters can also be flown/ designed to have their own luff tape/rope. This way no hanks required, just roll up the headsail and hoist the drifter on a spin halyard. Great sail for light air days to go up wind.

[robert sailor]

Drifters are great sails to have in light air and of course they will sail quite nicely upwind but the draft is typically much deeper than white sails and nylon won't hold the draft forward so while it does OK upwind it will not point with a regular sail.

[GILow]

Well hello all again. First, regarding thread drift. Yes, there was a little bit of drift from my original question but honestly it's all gold so I'm just grateful for the advice given. The whole genoa vs drifter thing is clearly another discussion in itself and one I will follow up on.

Meanwhile I am back from the trip now, and, needless to say nothing went to plan. The forecast SE 10 - 15 knots became a 6 knot SW by 10:30 in the morning and we ended up doing a lazy loop to the NW before coming home at 13:00 only to have it blow up to 15 - 20 knots five minutes after we tied up. So no real test of sail plan but I did take note that we had telltales on the trailing edge of the main, which I am embarrassed to confess I had not really noted before. Oops. But none on the trailing edge of the genoa so I will add them pronto.

Anyway, thank you for all the advice and I'll try the ideas given.

Happy sailing,

Matt

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by StuM

Lots of good instructions about how to trim a jib, use telltales, trim main etc on a sloop. Pity that's not what the OP asked.

I'd still try the 100% yankee plus 60% staysail over the 130% genoa as a first try, especially if, as you say, you have found in the past that the genoa backwinds the main close hauled in light winds. You might not point quite so high, but you can trim all three sails for maximum efficiency.

I think he's trying to make best VMG to windward. For that, don't think about using the staysail, which will slow you down. You need to trim carefully, and there's lots of good advice here. The object is to get the best proportion of lift versus drag, and it's the most challenging trimming you'll do. The Yankee by itself might be better than the genoa in some wind conditions, and depending on how it's cut. Then remember that best VMG will not occur at the highest possible wind angle - speed falls off rapidly when you start to pinch, overcoming any advantage from a better angle. Your instruments can help determine best VMG to windward - just set a waypoint dead upwind and watch VMG to waypoint reading.

Backwinding a bit of the mainsail near the luff is not necessarily a problem - some call it a "speed bubble". Happens on my boat when I'm hard on the wind and trimmed just right.

[robert sailor]

You don't need tell tales on the trailing edge of the head sail. You attach them a couple of feet back from the leading edge.

[StuM]

> But none on the trailing edge of the genoa so I will add them pronto.

I've never seen telltales on the the trailing edge of a headsail. The luff ones tell you all you need to know.

[GILow]

OK, first question. I have a decent MPS (asym). From my understanding so far this is similar to a drifter and though I may be able to point higher with a drifter, I gather that my current sail combination is pretty versatile. Main, genoa, Yankee, staysail, asym and storm jib.

But, like many things on the boat, they are scheduled for replacement in a year or two so I wonder if it is time to review the wardrobe before blindly replacing it all.

Any thoughts?

Matt

[GILow]

Originally Posted by StuM

> But none on the trailing edge of the genoa so I will add them pronto.

I've never seen telltales on the the trailing edge of a headsail. The luff ones tell you all you need to know.

Ah, ok, I will review those posts I thought someone mentioned them on the genoa but I might have misunderstood.

[GILow]

Stu, not sure why but some of your post text appears to be missing until I try to quote it. I think you are suggesting the telltales are not needed on the trailing edge of the genoa?

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by GILow

Stu, not sure why but some of your post text appears to be missing until I try to quote it. I think you are suggesting the telltales are not needed on the trailing edge of the genoa?

You do not need tickers on the trailing edge of the genua. The genua has them on both side at the front of the sail.

Ticlers on the trailing edge are on the mainsail. You should had done by each batten