Quote:
Originally Posted by agennai
my family (my wife lucetta and my little baby blu) and me are planning to cross atlantic ocean with our boat ISOLA BIANCA II (steel long keel cutter 46 feet) december 2011. Then we need some suggestions by experienced sailors about the set of sails for downwind passage.
we're a short hand crew and so we think to use only white sails: mainsail (it has furler outside the mast) and yankee with pole. My questions are:
Could be a good set ? Easy to manage, easy to reduce but not great power
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Depends on how big the Yankee is. If it is only 100 or 110% then you may want something a bit bigger like 130% in order to have decent moderate
wind performance (8-12kt). I assume the yankee is on a roller. Can the roller reef the sail as well as furl? If the roller can reef then get 130-140%. If the roller can only furl then 120-130%.
Here's what I would do if I had a roller.
I would have a 130% yankee on the roller.
I would add an inner removable forestay, running backs, and intermediate shrouds for a staysail.
I would get a drifter (light weight colored nylon genoa, 150-180% set flying, no hanks).
Downwind
In very light winds I would fly the drifter sheeted to the main boom end. Probably no main depending on swell.
In light winds I add the yankee and pole it out to
weather. No main at all.
In moderate winds I use main and poled out yankee.
On a reach:
In really light air I would fly the drifter.
At about 10kt
wind speed switch to Yankee and staysail
At about 15kt drop the staysail.
At about 20 roll a little bit of yankee in.
At 25kt roll yankee completely and raise staysail
The stay sail means you don't have to have several jibs for the roller headstay and you don't have to try
roller furling a big sail down to a very small one. All the extra
rigging for the staysail also supports the mast much better.
For light air a light nylon sail is the way to go. Spinnakers are not the only light air sail. Asymetrical spinnakers are almost as fast directly downwind and faster on a reach and a bit easier to use. A CodeZero is essentially an asymetrical on a
roller furler. The easiest to use is a drifter which is basically a genoa made out nylon that has 1 to 4 hanks total which may or may not be used as desired.
This is kind of a generic answer as I haven't even seen your boat let alone sailed it. Wind strengths for changing the jibs would depend on reefing the main and other variables I can't think of without seeing and/or sailing the boat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by agennai
could be better to cut the base of main sail as half reef to move up the boom?
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I would leave the main alone unless the boom is so low that it can hit or graze people's heads when standing in the
cockpit. You have to be able to reef to a smaller size as the wind increases but don't remove area permanently unless people are going to be hit while standing. You will encounter a lot more light air than storms and you will need to keep sailing, you can't carry enough
fuel to
motor the whole way or even half way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by agennai
The lenght of the pole must be the same could be for a spi , more or less the lenght of J?
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For a spinnake yes.
Spinnaker Pole
As a whisker pole you may want it longer for larger jibs, Forespar indicates a whisker pole should be the same length as the foot of the
jib being flown. (
http://www.forespar.com/pdf/F6-Whisk...ing-Jibing.pdf). For jibs smaller than 100% I wouldn't go much less than 'J' for the pole length. You can buy ajustable poles but they are kind of expensive and are not as strong or durable as fixed poles.
If you already have a spinnaker pole I would be content with that.
If you are going to buy one they it becomes an issue of
money and durability vs slightly better performance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by agennai
Have you any experience with parasail?
Thanks and fair winds
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I do not have any direct experience with a parasail but they look like more
work than a spinnaker, which you have indicated you don't want.
My opinions for what they are worth.
Adelie