Storm Jibs

[thomasstone]

It wouldnt hurt to have a couple of different headsails. You can usually pick them up used for very reasonable prices.Christineb1007 please keep the b kissing private.-thomas

[Denr]

Thomasstone

You took the words right out of my fingers about the butt kissing by christine 1007. Keep up the good work!

[kimberlite]

i don''t believe sailing in 50 knot winds is the way to go. if you have sustained winds of 50 knots i believe you would be much better off throwing out a drogue and going below for a nap. in those winds and the 30-40 foot seas associated with those winds you suffer too much of a chance of pitch poleing down one of the waves.
i believe a storm jib and trysail or deep third reef would work to about 45 knots but most storm jibs are very hard if not impossible to tack. You also get very tired very quickly trying to sail up and down the waves. it gets close to impossible to do on a moonless night.
if you really must have a storm jib i believe the jib should be no more than 5% of the height of the foretriangle squared and maximum luff of 65 % of the height of the foretriangle. the top of the sail should be distress orange . you also need to set up some very strong tracks forward for a correct lead.
eric

[davidk]

Perhaps Jeff H could answer this query: He mentioned storm jibs usually have their own sheets permanently spliced to the clew. Are the reasons for this a) to avoid bitter ends from any knots thrashing about and b) to ensure instant and ready availability of sheets when needed? Or are there other reasons? I am acutely aware that we have both trysail and storm jib aboard our boat only launched 6 weeks ago - no sheets fitted -yet - but that so far we haven''t tried them out. I know I should puzzle everybody watching on a nice day soon by trying out the whole set up - and we will - we will (ie how do you effectively lash the main boom down!?). But I was not intending to have dedicated sheets on either of these sails. When we played trysails on a skippers course we did not have dedicated sheets. Are there some good reasons that have passed me by? I would appreciate some wisdom. Thanks.

[Jeff_H]

That''s a good question. I am not 100% sure that I know why sheets are normally spliced to storm jibs and I have asked myself this same question.

On one hand it seems as if it would be important to be able to clear a fouled sheet by untying it at the clew, but on the other hand, I have generally conjectured that there were a number of possible reasons that storm jib sheets are spliced onto the sail. The two most compelling reasons that I come up with is that storm jibs tend to flog extremely violently in the high winds that they are used. Having a piece of hardware or knots flogging violently would greatly increase the risk of damage if the clew of the sail hit something. The other big issue, of course, is the risk that the sheet would come undone. Getting storm sails up and down in the harsh conditions that they are used, means that it becomes all the more imperative that the sheets not come loose from the sail.

What ever you do, storm sail sheets should be securely attached and low stretch line for these critical sheets are very important as well.

Jeff

[RichH]

1. Most all knots shake loose, even a buntline or a constrictor can loosen when shaken severely. Bowlines are notorious for shaking loose.

2. Splices are much stronger than ANY knot, the strongest knot is probably the Carrick at 80% breaking strengh of the line. Splices approach the full breaking strength of the l ine.

3. Problem with splices is that the chafe will be solely at one single spot (dead center in middle of the eye); with knots you can adjust and retie for chafe. With knots you can keep trimming back into unchafed line. Chafe with splices can be lessened by ''taking two turns'' on the clew iron instead of a simple eye splice. ..... inother words the splice is wrapped around the clew iron a second time to distribute the load and reduce chafe.

I prefer a single sheet (double length) with the line reeved at the middle to the clew. The knot is either a clove hitch or "constrictor" --- small sized knot, adjustable (with difficulty) for chafe. The larger the D-ring or grommet in the clew, the less the chafe.

[kimberlite]

i have had the opportunity,unfortunately, to have my storm sails up a number of times.
both sails have the sheets attached and marked in the sail bag. it is also important to mark the head tack and clew on the sail with magic marker ( both sides of the sail) the worst thing that can happen to one of these sails is to get a twist or hooked up wrong in a blow.

on passages i keep the storm staysail in a bag attached to the stay and ready to go.

we use a single line as a sheet with a simple loop at the clew of the sails.

it is also important to have dedicated cars, and blocks set up and ready to go when the stuff hits the fan.

tying knots and finding the proper lead for a sail should be done at the dock and not at sea. when the wind is really howling the sail leads wind up rubbing against the oddest things. we have leather chaffe gear that is held closed by velcro. this has come in handy a number of times. one tine the trysail sheets were rubbing on the edge of our hard top dodger. when we got into bermuda we had the sailmaker put a longer tack lead on the sail to clear the dodger. also make sure that your sails are well up the mast and stay . when you drop down in a big trough ,if the sails are low, you loose all of your drive.

also make sure that your trysail track comes almost down to the deck.

eric

[davidk]

Thanks for all that. Much food for thought, but most importantly it all motivates me to test everything, see it working, make a plan i.e. have it all clear in my mind, know it will work and be able to tell the team. Thanks