Roller furling sail choice?

[cwyckham]

Since you haven't used a furler before, you need to understand how difficult it is to change the sail out. Because the sail isn't hanked on, it's loose on the deck when it's dropped. It will only be attached at the head and tack.

This big loose sail is hell to manage in a blow. It's also not that fun when it's not blowing. It can certainly be done, but there's a good chance the sail's going in the water.

We do have a heavier and lighter sail. We almost never change at sea. We mostly change based on the season, though we might change for a particular day. It's better to have a compromise sail that will do most.

You do want an assym spinnaker in a sock (or furler if you can afford it). They are amazing fun off the wind.

[Glenn.Brooks]

I rerigged my Alberg 30 a few years ago, from hanked on sails to North cruising sails and harken roller furling. The North Loft in Seattle has equipped a lot of boats heading out into the South Pacific with this combination over the years, and it certainly worked well for me. The Genoa is a 6 oz 135% sail. I reef the main at around 18 knots and sometimes take in 2 or 3 wraps of the Genoa to balance the boat out. At 25 knots or so, I take in a second reef and furl 6 or 7 wraps on the fuller. At 35 knots+ I take in another 2 or 3 wraps on the Genoa, and could put in a third reef if necessary. The Genoa keeps it shape pretty well even with 9 wraps - reducing the sail area to less than my storm jyb. Now the Alberg is an exceptional sea boat - the boat sails like a witch in heavy weather - more like a duck- just scoots along, with deep reefs and a lot of wraps in the Genoa. the only negative is I probably won't out point some hi tech race boat going around the bouys with a partially furled headsail, but I doubt these guys would beat me to say Fiji, and wouldn't care if they did. So not sure how valid that comparison is. I also gave up messing about with spinnakers, as I usually always sailed singlehanded and never found a situation where the extra sail handling was worthwhile. I did install a solent stay to hank on a second down wind jyb, creating twin down wind jybs. This works well, but adds a second complete set of halyards, topping lift and sheets. A bit of a birds nest on the foredeck when all set up. The Solent is comforting also as a means to fly a hank on storm jyb, although a bit of Genoa works well also.

Overall I think you would do quite well cruising with one good Genoa and roller furling. If you need other sails, you could add them after you spend some time with your new rig- to find out if they are really necessary. otherwise they will just sit there in the sail locker depreciating and might never get used.


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[Schooner Chandlery]

You could have what I consider the best of both worlds (hanked and furled) by getting a wire luff furler (well, these days its dyneema luff, but...) and while they don't reef, it's easy enough to roll and drop the sail you're using on deck (if not too big a blow) in a roll and then take up your second jib of different size. Each jib has to have it's own top swivel when you do this, but it's a great way to not have to deal with the whole foil of a furler. We thought we'd be putting a wire luff furler on our boat but are fine with swapping out the jibs hanked on as they are for now. As long as my husband is the fellow going out onto the bowsprit and he doesn't seem to mind it, I'm not pushing the point that we ought to get a wire luff furler. LOL. If it were me going out there in big seas as he does...well, we'd have that wire luff furler by now. Fair winds.

[Hobie_ind]

Originally Posted by roverhi

I was thinking you'd need two halyards but didn't occur to me about the upper swivel, duh!!!! What good is the second slot in the furler extrusion?? Doesn't seem that you could use it except to start a new furling sail up in the 2nd slot with original sail lowered but still in its slot. Guess you could raise a sail that you wouldn't furl on a spare halyard. Might have some use for a light drifter or a storm sall that would only be used in special conditions and dropped when the windspeed changes.

I know a few boats that use the second slot to run a twin headsail arrangement downwind. One is an Oyster 53. For downwind sailing they drop the genoa, then raise the genoa and a similar sized spinnaker weight sail up the second track at the same time with both sails attached to the top bearing on a single halyard. Both sails are then poled out (one with the spinnaker pole the other through a block on the end of the boom). With both sails raised on one halyard they can furl the twin headsails in if the wind pipes up. They've completed a circumnavigation with that arrangement and just the two of them as crew. With sail feeders on both sails, they claim raising both sails at the same time isn't a big deal (which surprised me). They love the setup.

Our Amel Super Maramu has a similar twin headsail setup but we have 3 slots on the foil and two poles (with a ketch, the boom isn't long enough to be used). With the 3 slots (and a clever spring loaded gate system in the top bearing assembly) we are able to raise and lower the second headsail without dropping the genoa. The beauty of the system is that we're still able to furl the twin headsails as they're on one halyard because of a locking hook tool on the head of the second headsail that allows you to drop the second halyard after it locks in the gate in the top bearing assembly. To drop that second headsail, a release tool is run up the 3rd slot on the spare halyard then brought back down after the headsail is down. Turning the boat on a beam reach when raising and lowering the second sail helps make it a very controlled process as the second sail then simply lays over onto the genoa, minimizing flapping and keeping it out of the water. I was a bit skeptical at first, but it easier to do than describe,and we LOVE the system. We'll often keep both sails up through the night when friends are dropping their cruising spinnakers because it's so easy to furl if the wind pipes up. Those additional night miles add up and we've surprised a few 'faster' boats a number of times.

I'm not sure if anyone else markets a similar aftermarket arrangement, but for shorthanded cruising, I think it's tough to beat. I regularly run the second headsail up and down singlehanded.

Regards,
Mark