Drifter how to ?

[henris]

I just purchased a Drifter , a sort of Genakker attached on the tack to the forestay, by mean of a circular beads necklace.

Questions:
1. There are two sheets, should the countersheet pass in front or after the forestay.
2. two pulleys came with it, what's the use of them ?

tks
Henri

[JPA Cate]

Henri,

We used to have a jennaker of which one could adjust the height of the tack via the foreguy. Sheets aft of the forestay. It did not have ferrule beads (the necklace you mentioned.)

I used to sail on a boat with a nylon ripstop drifter, and it tacked to where all the headsails tacked on, and was hoisted either with a few hanks (wire forestay) attached, or flying without being hanked on. On it, the sheets were aft of the forestay, and forward of the baby stay.

Good luck getting your light air sail to work, mate.

Ann

[markpierce]

Congratulations! It seems rare that cruisers don't use their mechanical engines when drifting.

[Hasbeen]

I won a $400 order on a Hong Kong sail maker in a Rabaul/Kavieng race. I bought a drifter. It was effectively a very light very full cut [3 Oz terylene] No 2 genoa, & was rigged in the same way.


I was spending a lot of time in the northern Solomons, Northern New Guinea, & to a few degrees north of the equator. A lot of doldrums stuff, & perfect conditions for a drifter. Light conditions up there give smooth seas, easier to set sails, as there is no sea to shake the wind out of them.


I used it as a genoa, & found that you could work up reasonable speed in just 3 or 4 knots of wind. In a 3 knot reach as you built speed the apparent wind would pull well forward, giving you ultimately 5 or 6 knots apparent at something like 50 degrees on the bow. I would be sailing enjoyable, when other yachts were becalmed, as the wind was not enough to put shape into their heavy sails.


It was not much use in a left over sea, as the boat rolling would shake the wind out of it. It was a most enjoyable sail up there, but rarely got used in the trade wind areas.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by henris

I just purchased a Drifter , a sort of Genakker attached on the tack to the forestay, by mean of a circular beads necklace.

Questions:
1. There are two sheets, should the countersheet pass in front or after the forestay.
2. two pulleys came with it, what's the use of them ?

tks
Henri

The "pulleys" are likely the sheet lead blocks that would attach to pad eyes or the toe rail near the aft of the yacht to allow the sheets to be lead to a winch. Under normal circumstances you should have a 3rd, swivel, block that one would attach to a fitting on the bow, preferably forward of the headstay. A "tack line" is lead through this block and connected to the tack of the sail to allow the tack to be raised or lowered as trim requires once the sail is hoisted. The parrell bead "neckless" is passed around the furled headsail and attached to the tack to hold the tack close to the forestay, the beads rolling over the furled jib as the tack is raised or lowered. The sheet that will be to "windward" once the sail is set is lead forward and passed ahead of the forestay above the parrell beads but aft of the tack line. This arrangement allows you to do an inside gibe. (It is possible that your rig does not include two sheets but simply a sheet and tack line in which case you would have no windward "lazy" sheet but, of course, couldn't gibe the sail either.)

For more on the subject see (click on) Asymmetrical Spinnaker Trim. The handling of the "Drifter/Genakker" (as you say) is essentially the same as that of an asymmetric.

FWIW...

[KP44]

Drifter is a large, light, full-cut genoa. I rigged and used mine like any other headsail.

[roverhi]

Drifters are typically high cut sals. They benefit big time sheeting to the boom on a broad reach. Picked up a full knot of boat speed changing the sheet lead from the rail to the boom and opening up the slot when well off the wind.

Drifters are full cut genoas usually with less overlap than a #1 genoa so they will fill in light air. Set the sail up as a genoa. Be ready to get the sail down quickly when the wind pipes up. The light weight material is easily blown out of shape when carried in too much wind and can be a handful to douse with sudden big increase in wind.

I'd given up on even thinking about a drifter with roller furling. Just too much work to change a headsail as always have issues getting the luff bead to feed into the slot in the extrusion. Yes, I do have a prefeeder which helps but doesn't completely eliminate sail feed problems. Also concerns about dealing with a loose sail in a sudden large increase in wind.

Thought the only way to set one would be flying but it would be hard to get enough tension on the luff even with a 2 part Halyard. Using parrel beads over a furled headsail hadn't occured to me. Would be interested in hearing how the parrel bead luff attaachment works for setting and dousing the sail.

[hpeer]

My drifter has its own luff wire. Attaches to a point forward of the RF. As said,just a bit light Genoa.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Drifters are typically high cut sals. They benefit big time sheeting to the boom on a broad reach. Picked up a full knot of boat speed changing the sheet lead from the rail to the boom and opening up the slot when well off the wind.

Drifters are full cut genoas usually with less overlap than a #1 genoa so they will fill in light air. Set the sail up as a genoa. Be ready to get the sail down quickly when the wind pipes up. The light weight material is easily blown out of shape when carried in too much wind and can be a handful to douse with sudden big increase in wind.

I'd given up on even thinking about a drifter with roller furling. Just too much work to change a headsail as always have issues getting the luff bead to feed into the slot in the extrusion. Yes, I do have a prefeeder which helps but doesn't completely eliminate sail feed problems. Also concerns about dealing with a loose sail in a sudden large increase in wind.

Thought the only way to set one would be flying but it would be hard to get enough tension on the luff even with a 2 part Halyard. Using parrel beads over a furled headsail hadn't occured to me. Would be interested in hearing how the parrel bead luff attaachment works for setting and dousing the sail.

The parrel beads can, & often are, setup much like an ATN Tacker for spinnakers. Including using a quick release shackle that you can trip under load if required. And if it's a free flying sail, attached via parrel beads or no, a spinnaker sock (snuffer) is definitely an option for handling it.

Though my preference leans towards using a detachable (synthetic) Solent Stay, & hanking the sail onto it, as it makes it much easier to handle when setting & dousing. Though free flying with a kevlar or spectra luff rope, & a furler can be a good way to go as well. It'll just require a bit more attention when putting it to bed (take downs) vs. the Solent Stay option is all.

When you're deciding on which way to go, consider how much time you may be saiing DDW with twin jibs, & your preferred method for hoisting & dousing same. Especially in areas with frequent squalls.
Crew experience is also a big factor in this decision, as some folks just aren't comfortable (or able to) douse a free flying sail without a few sets of extra hands helping them to do it.

This can even be a problem with "large" hanked on jibs or drifters. As, for example, my stepmom was always skittish (at best) about dousing a laminated 135% that was hanked onto the headstay on a 29'er.

[dcstrng]

Originally Posted by KP44

Drifter is a large, light, full-cut genoa. I rigged and used mine like any other headsail.

Ditto -- just used lighter sheets when ghosting along

[Scotty Kiwi]

Originally Posted by Hasbeen

I won a $400 order on a Hong Kong sail maker in a Rabaul/Kavieng race. I bought a drifter. It was effectively a very light very full cut [3 Oz terylene] No 2 genoa, & was rigged in the same way.


I was spending a lot of time in the northern Solomons, Northern New Guinea, & to a few degrees north of the equator. A lot of doldrums stuff, & perfect conditions for a drifter. Light conditions up there give smooth seas, easier to set sails, as there is no sea to shake the wind out of them.


I used it as a genoa, & found that you could work up reasonable speed in just 3 or 4 knots of wind. In a 3 knot reach as you built speed the apparent wind would pull well forward, giving you ultimately 5 or 6 knots apparent at something like 50 degrees on the bow. I would be sailing enjoyable, when other yachts were becalmed, as the wind was not enough to put shape into their heavy sails.


It was not much use in a left over sea, as the boat rolling would shake the wind out of it. It was a most enjoyable sail up there, but rarely got used in the trade wind areas.

That's very interesting to me, Hasbeen. I've not had experience in day after day of doldrum cruising, but hopefully will get some sooner or later. What boat did you have? How heavy? Would a second drifter have helped more? Eg If a ketch, a large drifter as a genoa on the mizzen, to augment one from an extended bowsprit? (Of course the question doesn't apply for sloop).

[a64pilot]

How does a drifter differ from a cruising code zero?
My cruising code zero seems to be really not much more than a 170% Genoa with light fabric, cut a little fuller.

[Gene Neill]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

How does a drifter differ from a cruising code zero?
My cruising code zero seems to be really not much more than a 170% Genoa with light fabric, cut a little fuller.

A drifter is a hank on sail.

[Hasbeen]

Scotty Kiwi, my yacht was a pre WW11 Morgan Giles 40 footer, designed for racing on the English Solent. Not everyone's idea of a cruising boat, but I got sick of going slowly. She was about 7 ton, 7/8ths sloop rig easily driven, deep, high ballast ratio, but way overloaded with all the junk I could not bring myself to throw out, just in case I needed it. See My Album for photos.


I had an old No 2 genoa I used for polling out running, & found this stretched it very badly, moving all the draft aft in the sail, so did not use the drifter that way. Down wind the shape of the sail doesn't matter much, any old windage will do. The drifter needs good shape if it is to be of much use to windward, so I never polled it out.


I found I was rarely running anyway, very few of the passages around the islands, or inter island worked out to be down wind. There is often little wind all day, but in the high islands areas you would get a lovely off shore breeze at night, with air descending from the 6 to 8000 ft mountain ridge central to the islands. The seas would be calm, & highly Phosphorescent, the breeze cool, & if you got a pod of porpoise playing under your bow with their streaks of light, it was magical.


I would sit for hours on the bow rail, the windvane doing all the work, the yacht sliding along at 5 or so knots, just marvelling at how lucky I was to be right there, right then.


You need light full cut sails, & with them any yacht will respond. The flat bed sheet type sales from some cheap Asian lofts will just leave you motoring all day.


a64pilot that was the concept of a drifter. A sail to get you moving in light airs, as a light weight genoa.

[dcstrng]

I drift in and out of the sailing community and don’t keep up with the latest terminology -- have no notion what a code zero is (or a code anything) -- but our drifter was just a hanked-on 3/4 oz. nylon jenny all the what to the deck which we love to throw up when things get near calm and use about like Hasbeen describes. Get it to fill on a broad reach and then inch a bit forward as the apparent wind picks up… other than using light sheets, no extra lines or gadgetry required.