Sailing downwind techniques

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by maxingout

Our present downwind rig has been modified.

We have double headsails with one sail on the profurl headstay and the second headsail set up on a code zero rig. Both sails are 500 square feet. One is nine ounce Dacron and the other is seven ounce Dacron. The code zero is either fully out or fully furled. Sometimes we use the poles and sometimes we don’t.

This set up is quicker to set up and use. It’s also faster to furl. If the wind picks up we roll up the code zero rig first. Since both sails are the same size, the rig is balanced making things easier for the autopilot as well.

On a multi day downwind sail we might use the poles.

It’s not the perfect solution, but it works for us.

That sounds good. So you have a torsion line and some kind of top down or bottom up furling system. Is it happy coping with the heavier weight cloth? I imagine a normal Code Zero is much much less than 7oz material used on a genoa. My main (only) genoa is 7.5oz and it's a heavy material to me.

I'll be doing an Atlantic crossing east to west at the end of the year, so keen find a setup that works well for that.

[nhschneider]

During our recently-completed circumnavigation, we probably sailed ‘wing-on-wing’ 40% of the time. We used our asymmetrical a few times but we were reluctant to fly it at night and the minimal speed increase it offered wasn’t enough to justify the effort to hoist and retrieve. We were much too lazy to broad reach and jibe. Still, our passage times weren’t too bad, for example, the passage from Banderas Bay in Mexico to Hiva Oa in the Marquesas was 18 days, slightly over 3,000 miles.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by KC375

That would be the flag of Monaco (or an upside down Polish flag)

It is a right side up Indonesian flag.

[KC375]

Originally Posted by fxykty

It is a right side up Indonesian flag.

My bad, I forgot about Indonesia. (I find it easier to remember Monaco and Poland because of their Geographic Proximity - Poland on top of Europe with white on top, Monaco bottom with white on bottom). I would still say Solarbri’s most excellent spinnaker has flag W:L dimensions of 2:1 so closer to Monaco’s flag 4:5 than Indonesia’s 2:3

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by nhschneider

During our recently-completed circumnavigation, we probably sailed ‘wing-on-wing’ 40% of the time. We used our asymmetrical a few times but we were reluctant to fly it at night and the minimal speed increase it offered wasn’t enough to justify the effort to hoist and retrieve. We were much too lazy to broad reach and jibe. Still, our passage times weren’t too bad, for example, the passage from Banderas Bay in Mexico to Hiva Oa in the Marquesas was 18 days, slightly over 3,000 miles.

Fair winds and calm seas.

That was a good clip. I hate being lazy when there is stuff to do, but it just seems natural on a long passage.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by moreton99

Thank you all for comments. Very helpful explanations.
Factor, I try not to bother 44c too much. He has been such a great help to me from when I first bought the boat.
Boatman61, i often run straight downwind and enjoy the easy passage but I am worried the boat will get the shits that I am not at least trying to use her to potential.

If your destination is DDW you're almost certainly better to sail DDW to it, unless you've got an sail GP or Americas cup boat. Very few cruising boats would be fast enough to benefit from tacking downwind.

The Tarjan article is (IMO) more about using boatspeed to convert a deep reach into a broad reach.

[WantTo]

We sailed twice (2013 and 2015) from the Virgin Islands to south Florida, downwind, wing and wing, for 7 days. We had a Manta 40 catamaran with only main and jib, but the jib has a camber spar that makes it easy to tie it to the bow cleat. It also had a boom brake, so an unintentional gybe was a non-event, and we only had one. We kept a double reef in the main because Chris Parker said we might see 40 knot winds at times. We never saw more that 30 knots. We set the autopilot to hold 160° apparent and had smooth sailing the entire way. The first time was just my wife and me, doing 4 on 4 off. We had a third crewman the second time that made it even more enjoyable.

[mikedefieslife]

I’m sure it’s very boat specific, but when sailing downwind with the spinnaker i put the sheets through block on the stern cleats and leas them back to a winch.

Does anyone do this with their genoa? I’ve found that when poled out the sheet angle is so that it puts an amazing amount of strain on the pole.

[BigNut]

Originally Posted by maxingout

Our present downwind rig has been modified.

On a multi day downwind sail we might use the poles.

It’s not the perfect solution, but it works for us.

Dave
I very much appreciate this discussion. Why is it not prefect (as if anything is!). What I mean is, why bother with the poles if the barberhaulers are "good enough? It seems much simpler, and no poles needed either.

If you did not have a symmetrical, nor poles, but only a Genoa and furling Gennaker, would you invest in poles and the rigging required to set them up?

Thanks

[Mr B]

DDW, I found that using only the Genoa was the best for me,

Same direction for a week in the trade winds, No matter where or how I put the main sail using the GPS to get the best speed,
I only got 1 knot difference in speed, so I packed away the main sail and left it covered up, It wasnt worth the effort,

Self furling Genoa operated from the cockpit, I could put it out or in depending on the wind force, and could maintain an average speed of 5 to 9 knots,
Mainly around 7 knots, Nice cruisy speed,

I did get 14 knots on the sail Chute,
GPS and Autopilot, I spent most of my time sitting or laying on the hammock hanging from the Dinghy Davits on the transom at the back of the boat,
It was also the most stable part of the boat, Always flat and level,

Cheers, Brian,