Sail Selection Musings

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by cwyckham

I think you misunderstand what Jim means when he says "pole out." The North article says that you shouldn't put the tack on a pole (like with a symmetric spinnaker). I think we can all agree on that. Works with an assym, but not a C0. Jim was advocating poling out the clew with a whisker pole. There's no reason that shouldn't work just fine.

I believe many cruisers use a C0 like sail (Totem calls it a Cruising Code Zero) as an all around light wind sail, including downwind. I understand some like it better than an assym because the taught luff rope keeps the sail more stable when rolling around in light wind when an assym would be collapsing and filling.

Exactly! You said it better than I did.

Jim

[blinkerfluid]

Well, we went and had the boat surveyed yesterday and went out for a sea trial. Turns out apparently the original owner had the same thoughts about sailing as I did. Instead of having the stock 150% genoa, he had the sail cut down to a 110% jib with an assymetric spinnaker in a sock.

The boat seemed to sail well with the 110%, we were beating in 15knots of apparent with boat speeds averaging around 6.3 knots, we peaked out at 6.8 knots. I wasn't able to get a reading on true wind speed once we were sailing, but I believe it was around 8-9 knots. This isn't corrected for current though, which I believe was probably helping us along at around 1 knot on our beam. The boat was heeling around 20 degrees and the helm was nice and balanced. I think any more wind and reefing the main might be called for.

Speaking of which, the boat had a 2 line reefing setup, but both lines were still run to the cockpit. I think it'd be pretty easy to rerun the lines for a single line reefing setup, which would do away with 2 of the lines in the cockpit.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by blinkerfluid

Speaking of which, the boat had a 2 line reefing setup, but both lines were still run to the cockpit. I think it'd be pretty easy to rerun the lines for a single line reefing setup, which would do away with 2 of the lines in the cockpit.

Don't do it. Leave it the way it is. Double line reefing is far superior. Leave it until you use it some. The reason is the clew needs a lot more tension than the tack, think it through. I am so glad about our double line reefing, which the PO had installed.

Nice to hear about your good experience. usually 15 kts apparent is about the time to think about reefing the main at least one reef, you'll go faster. I sail here on SF Bay and use a 95 during the high summer winds, 110 during the lighter winter winds, unless I'm racing. I race against guys with 130s and often win because they're over canvassed for higher winds.

Good luck with your new boat. I think you've received the widest range of input on your OP than I have seen in a long time on this subject.

Now it's: Your boat, your choice.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Don't do it. Leave it the way it is. Double line reefing is far superior. Leave it until you use it some. The reason is the clew needs a lot more tension than the tack, think it through. I am so glad about our double line reefing, which the PO had installed.

Nice to hear about your good experience. usually 15 kts apparent is about the time to think about reefing the main at least one reef, you'll go faster. I sail here on SF Bay and use a 95 during the high summer winds, 110 during the lighter winter winds, unless I'm racing. I race against guys with 130s and often win because they're over canvassed for higher winds.

Good luck with your new boat. I think you've received the widest range of input on your OP than I have seen in a long time on this subject.

Now it's: Your boat, your choice.

I agree... use the double line system for a while. It doesn't have to be led to the cockpit if you prefer.

[cwyckham]

+1 on leaving the 2 line reefing. If anything it's faster due to less friction and you get a better result. We can reef in about 30 seconds with ours.

[blinkerfluid]

haha alright, I'll leave it and see how it goes. I like having everything in the cockpit. It's all run through clutches on the cabin top, so even with the extra 2 lines it's still a pretty clean install.

We should get the survey write up this evening and then we can decide if we for sure want it (pretty sure we do) and if we want to renegotiate the price based on the findings.

[barnakiel]

Code zero is not a broad reaching sail.

Unless you want to do some specific kind of sailing, I would stick with a main and some sort of an overlapping genoa sail (which somehow hardly ever has a genoa cut on a cruising boat). A genoa like sail, on a furler. Keep this genoa light.

Next I would add an inner triangle of a trinquette type. Pelikan hook removable stay, backed by runners, if you drop the fitting as you should (but plain vanilla if you keep the stay high up close enough to the backstay). And next, funds allowing, why not make the small jib furlable. I would.

Look at what set of sails others use in your area. It helps heaps.

b.