Jib or Main question?

[Idiens]

For me it really depends on the route I'm sailing and the wind direction, of course. At 20 knots or 20 degrees heel, I reef. Depending on what the wind looks like doing, I usually reef the main much more than the genoa. That's mainly because its a lot more effort to reef the main, than roller furl the genoa. So rather than reef the main twice or three times, I often go straight to the third reef and keep out more genoa.

On the other hand, down wind, I tend to just roll in the genoa to start, if it looks like less than 30 knots. More than that in prospect, I remove the main and later furl the genoa. I usually prefer tacking down wind to reduce roll and bad sail behaviour.

Last year I did a lot of sailing on the genoa alone, but then my boat goes fairly well to windward on genoa alone.

[BarryL]

Hi Nik,

My boat is on a mooring just off the town 'I' dock. White hull with red stripes. I'll be looking for you the next time I head out (probably Sunday morning).

Mt. Sinai is great because it is well protected, and you can be out in the sound about 5 minutes after boarding your boat.

Regarding sailing with 1 or 2 sails, I did a lot of experimenting with my last boat, a Newport 28. The boat sailed fine with just the headsail, but was more balanced with two sails up. With just the main I could not tack. With just a headsail I could tack, but not go to weather very well. In high winds, the boat sailed best with a reefed main and reefed headsail. If it was windy and I didn't have a lot of time I would leave the main covered and just use the headsail.

Good luck,
Barry

Originally Posted by nk235

Barry,

I am also in Mt. Sinai. I have a mooring at Ralph's. Boat is a 1983 Morgan 323 named Capricorn with an off white hull, brown boot stripe and is just north of that beach in the middle of the harbor with that bbq pit stickign out of the sand. I kept my last boat on the south shore last year but so far am loving Mt. Sinai and the Sound.

I was hoping the wind would be more out of the west so I could have it on my beam tomorrow but I guess I will find that out when I wake up. I'm taking two of my friends out for the day so we don't need to make it over to CT but I just thought it would be fun to go somewhere but we can always just go for a daysail.

Docking wise I am still learning and getting used to the bigger boat. With my 25' I used to be able to get that thing in and out of everywhere because I could turn the outboard and the boat was so much smaller. This one is a whole nother ball game but I find as long as I take it slow, watch where the wind and current is out of and plan accordingly I do alright.

Anyway though where in Mt. Sinai are you? I'll keep an eye out for you and if I see you on it I'll swing by and say hello.

[US27inKS]

Another factor you may have to consider is whether you have a roller furling headsail or a roller reefing headsail. If you have roller reefing, you can partially roll the heasail and manitain shape. I have roller furling. If I try to partially roll the headsail it gets an nasty bubble on the luff and the boat is very hard to control.

My boat sails just fine on my 110 only, will even point pretty well and makes 5.5 knots while doing it. Tacking sucks though. I have to start steering back to windward as soon as the bow passes through the wind so that my tacks end up at about 180 degrees, then I can work my way back up to a beat.

[nk235]

Took her out today and had a great sail. I put a reef in the main while at the mooring and then once out in the sound on a broad reach I unfurled half to 3/4 of the jib. Once I trimmed the sails right there was no weather helm and we were cruising at around 5.5 knots. Sailed out to middle grounds (half way across LI sound) and then cruised around a little more before heading back into the harbor. It does make sense to have both sails partially out rather than one sail fully out as the boat really was balanced correctly.

Barry,

Most likely I will be heading out for another sail tomorrow morning as well depending on the rain but as of now it looks like it might not start till the afternoon. I plan on getting to the boat between 7-8am. What is the name of your boat? I'll keep an eye out for you.

-Nick

[BarryL]

Originally Posted by nk235

Most likely I will be heading out for another sail tomorrow morning as well depending on the rain but as of now it looks like it might not start till the afternoon. I plan on getting to the boat between 7-8am. What is the name of your boat? I'll keep an eye out for you.
-Nick

Hi Nick,

Good for you getting out there today. I'm jealous. I had a list of "honeydo's" in the morning, then my 7 year old son's soccer game in the afternoon, then I had a hockey game in the evening.

I will be on my boat around noon tomorrow. We (my wife, 3 kids, and my mother in law) will just sail around for a few hours. My boat is the Day To Remember, beige hull with red boot and cove stripes. My sail number is 373. I'll have the VHF on channel 16. Give me a hail if you see me and I will do the same.

Have fun,

Barry

[CalebD]

I second Cam on this entirely. Have the main ready to go even if reefed.
This is probably due in part to learning how to sail on a Sunfish 350 years ago.
On my 27' Tartan (scow - full keel) I choose a reefed main before anything as I can still usually comfortably come about and navigate without being in a lot of danger.
I hope you were able to get to CT today as the winds were strong if a bit fickle in their direction. In NYC they were out of the W today. Probably out of the N 50 miles away at Mt. Sinai.

[btrayfors]

Originally Posted by nolatom

As a general principle, you can't sail upwind without a balanced rig, meaning roughly equai amounts of mainsail and jib. '

This statement is misleading. Most modern sloop-rigged boats will sail very well to windward with the genoa alone, including being relatively close-hauled. You don't necessarily need to have any mainsail out. Once in the BVI I sailed past a 50' ketch with a professional crew and flying all sails beating to windward, in a Pearson 10M with the genoa alone!

While you can reach OK with just the main, most boats will do better (sail faster) with just a genoa. And, as you've noted, it's much easier to roll in or out to set the area needed for the wind conditions and point of sail.

When going upwind, most boats will go very slowly under main alone. They really need a headsail in order to make the main an efficient contributor to boat speed. The difference is really dramatic. Try it yourself: set a course closehauled in a decent wind, note your boatspeed, then drop (or furl) the headsail, leaving the full main. Your boatspeed will fall off to almost nothing. By the way, this isn't a bad way to sail up to a mooring in a strong wind.

Bottom line: for your trip I'd start out with just the genoa and see how it works. If the wind falls light and you need more sail area, then put up some main. Of course, an alternate strategy would be to tuck in a reef in the main before setting out, and unroll enough genoa to get your boatspeed up.

Bill

[nk235]

Originally Posted by BarryL

Hi Nick,

Good for you getting out there today. I'm jealous. I had a list of "honeydo's" in the morning, then my 7 year old son's soccer game in the afternoon, then I had a hockey game in the evening.

I will be on my boat around noon tomorrow. We (my wife, 3 kids, and my mother in law) will just sail around for a few hours. My boat is the Day To Remember, beige hull with red boot and cove stripes. My sail number is 373. I'll have the VHF on channel 16. Give me a hail if you see me and I will do the same.

Have fun,

Barry

Barry,

I'm heading out of Mt. Sinai around 9am and should be returning around noon so chances are we may pass eachother as I am coming in and you are heading out. Either way though enjoy the sail.

[pag616]

i sail an alberg 29 (nye yachts, late of bloomberg ontario). Following four years of sailing on lake ontario at the nigara river exit, i installed an inner 'baby' stay so the rig now resembles a cutter. in fresh winds i hoist the inner staysail and reef the main - no foresail.

the boat actually sails the best under fresh conditions with the afore mentioned rig - great balance a literally no weather helm.

Vince grandinetti
youngstown, new york

[brucelongman]

I have a Catalina 30, Jeanneau 34 and an Elite 32. All three have masthead rigs with 135 Gennys. I have sailed all three boats in 25 plus with Genny only, provided you're on a reach. Rolled the Genny in by 1/3 and flew prefectly balanced at 6 plus kts, with no weather helm. Your Morgan is heavier though, and might need some more sail power. All boats handle different, so this is just my experience.

I prefer sailing in heavy winds with Genny alone as it is easy to reef and put away in case of emergency and building winds. Also means you don't have to go up on deck which is always a good thing in heavy seas. As all my boats have lazy jack stack packs, it makes dropping the main a lot more difficult in adverse conditions (you have to point DIRECTLY into wind or sail gets caught on lazy jacks). Thus my prefernce for genny only.

Ideally a reefed main and reefed headsail will give you your best balance, especially if beating, but this is a small sacrifice for safty. A genny is easier to pop out if you get a big gust.

Capt. Bruce
Windsong Sailing Charters