Gale Sail

[Freesail99]

I am looking into buying this Gail sail. It sounds like it is a great idea. From the web site:

The Gale sail, since it is hoisted over the very stiff roller furled sail, has a great aerodynamic shape, much better than a conventional storm jib hooked on a removable headstay, or a partially furled sail, which most of the time has not been designed or built for that purpose. Also, not all roller furlers are built to reef.

It eliminates the need for a removable headstay.

It eliminates the dangerous job of unfurling, dropping and stowing away the furled working sail to free up the roller furler in windy conditions to hoist the conventional jib.

Being that I single hand more times then not I thought it be a safer sail to carry. Here is the website and has anyone used this sail ?

http://www.atninc.com/gale.html


Thanks,
Paul

[chucklesR]

Looks good, and probably better aerodynamics than a furled genoa sail. If I was a cruiser it (or something like it) would be on my list of 'gotta have's. As a primarily day/weekender I don't go out much in the wind where it would be useful. My only concern would be hanking it on in any wind conditions I'd want to use it (over 30 kts of wind).

[Gene T]

No personal experience, but I have an opinion. I have read of people who had one, give a sense of security, but decided it would be almost impossible to deploy one when it was actually needed. A lot of friction to hoist it not to mention putting it on in storm conditions. I am also curious why they claim better sail shape as it is deployed over a furled sail which would cause a bulky luff. But again, I have no experience with it at all. I have changed head sails in very nasty conditions and cannot imagine how I would deploy one of these by myself.

Maybe someone on the board has used one and can give some insight.

[teshannon]

Interesting concept and of interest to me also. I'll see what everyone comes back with on this post. Thanks for the link.

[sailingdog]

I have one... the small which is 60 sq. ft or so in size for my boat.

The one reason I might add a removeable forestay is to help shift the Center of Effort aft a bit. While the GaleSail does basically all that it says it does, it leaves the COE a bit further forward than I would like.

All that said, it is fairly easy to rig and fairly simple to use. I use a sail tie to tie up the furled headsail and use my spinaker sheets with it... leaving the regular genoa sheets tied to the furled headsail and led to the base of the furler drum.

[teshannon]

How big are the hanks on that thing? It seems they need to be large to fit over a furled headsail. Does it go up as easy as they claim or is it prone to hang up?

[sailingdog]

The hanks don't hold the sail to the furled headsail. The hanks are used to close a sleeve that wraps around the furled headsail, much like the old sails used on some of the cat-rigged large sailboats, like the Nonsuch IIRC. Given that the sleeve spreads the friction out over a fairly large area, the resistance to hoisting the sail isn't all that great. The hanks themselves are fairly normal sized.

Basically the GaleSail is a headsail with an extension off the luff that wraps around a furled headsail and then is held to the luff with piston hanks, causing the extension to form a tube or sleeve about the furled headsail.

[teshannon]

SD,
That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the enlightenment.

[Idiens]

SD - Do you fit the Gale Sail over the genoa sheets as well as over the furled genoa? Or do you remove the sheets, tie up the g and then hank on the Gail Sail?

[teshannon]

I think he said he moves the genoa sheets to the base of the furler drum so they are out of the way and don't interfere.