Sailing "Downwind"

[US27inKS]

Originally Posted by Faster

And nobody protested you for that? Not sure it's strictly legal, nor is your rating likely to reflect that sail area.....

But as you saw, it works well...

We discussed the legality before putting it up. The consensus was that we wouldn't be protested for flying a spin but not taking down the jib, so what's the difference. We're the slowest boat in the fleet anyway, and the rest of the fleet had their hands too full with their own boat (many broaches that day) to look back at what we were doing.

[Sailormon6]

Racing with twin headsails is generally prohibited, unless the sailing instructions for the particular race expressly allow them, but, if you're not racing and don't have a spinnaker, it's a good way to get downwind in a hurry. You'd think the boat would get squirrelly with that much sail up in a breeze, but it's surprisingly stable. If there's enough wind, you can even get by without a pole. If you'll trim the one opposite the boom a little bit further aft, it will stay filled most of the time.

SpcAlan1, it's very easy to add an extra jib or spinnaker halyard to a Catalina 25, and it's a good thing to have. All you need is to add a cleat to your mast, a snatch block, a piece of line and one or two shackles.

[SpcAlan1]

Would I have to take my mast down to add a new halyard? ( I would expect so ).

I have a 150 Genoa. What would I benefit from using it and another sail at the same time.

My Catalina would look like a pirate ship with 3 sails, hahaha

[AdamLein]

You might not have to take your mast down to add spinnaker halyard gear at the masthead. The tail of the halyard runs up the front of the mast through a fairlead to a block perched several inches forward of the masthead. If it's anything like the masthead on my Catalina 27 (and my impression is that a lot of the rigging is the same or similar), your masthead will already be designed to accept a spinnaker halyard block:



If that's the case you can go up in the bosun's chair to add the block and fairlead.

Got any pictures of your masthead?