inner forestay for fitting an upwind jib?

[Oysterbob]

the furler is a furlex as far as memory serves & does split, user manual is at my office ill check what type tommorow exactly what model

what would you recommend for a suit of sails?

[Jeff_H]

Without knowing the specifics of your boat, what both Faster and Paul are suggesting is that the recommendation in the article is aimed at the typical cruising boat set up which includes are large all purpose sail on a furler. These all purpose sails are quickly over powered upwind in a breeze, and are rarely cut flat enough to be good upwind sails. On the other hand, many non-spinnaker class rules do not permit sail changes or dedicated reaching-running sails. Adding a second stay is one way around that on a masthead rig.

Adding a masthead reaching sail for use in a non-spin class is less of an option on a fractional rig, but (depending on the design of the boat) the good news is that many, if not most fractional rigs can often get by without going to a masthead reaching sail. The key here is to have a 110-120% headsail that is made from a high modulus fiber that is cut slightly fuller (i.e. cut like an AP genoa). Upwind in a breeze, apply the backstay and you will flatten the sail. Downwind slack the backstay and balloon the sail for better reaching performance. While this sail won't reach or run as well as a larger genoa, many fractional rigs have so much sail area in their mainsail, that the difference can be made up on the upwind performance except in the lightest breezes where you would normally use your #1 anyway.

Jeff

[Oysterbob]

thanks jeff H & puddinlegs, all replies appreciated

you will probably have gathered im a novice so please fell free to speak plainly :-)

i'll need to check our class rules but we can & do use a spinnaker & sometimes an assymetric on a bowsprit, most people have furlers and thats all i have experience with, although im not averse to trying something different as our upwind lack of speed is a nightmare, we sometimes have two crew but often 3 or 4 so changing headsails could be done, ive seen boats change hanked on headsails during our passage races, but never on a foil

'These all purpose sails are quickly over powered upwind in a breeze, and are rarely cut flat enough to be good upwind sails'- yes that definately seems to the case with us!

Jeff H thanks for recommendation that headsail spec it sounds interesting, looks like the forestay doesnt have many votes, dont know why PBO published it

here is a couple of pics of our model of boat with different jibs

[puddinlegs]

Cool boat! Should go upwind very well with decent sails. Interesting, the top and middle picture rigs look significantly taller than the third picture. Did they make different models of the same boat (mk I, mk II, etc...)?

[Faster]

Oyster, looks like you've got a 'little sister' to our boat (below)

[Oysterbob]

Thanks she is a great little boat, @puddinlegs, the rigs are all the same just a trick of the camera.
The top photo has a very large genoa, you will see sail boat behind has UAE united Arab emirates, so will be light balmy breezes there. The bottom left has a much shorter footed jib as was taken in North sea waters, samller sail but much more heel looks like a breeze blowing, the other pic is an old one, prob original hanked on sail.

Faster - you have a good looking mainsail on that boat, keepin the sail area to the max, but not a massively overlapping jib, interesting, have you found that the best combination? what kind of everlap do you think we should have for an upwind only sail? if we do a peel changes for a new sail for reaching when we round the mark, or does it depend a lot on wind strength?

[puddinlegs]

Originally Posted by Oysterbob

Faster - you have a good looking mainsail on that boat, keepin the sail area to the max, but not a massively overlapping jib, interesting, have you found that the best combination? what kind of everlap do you think we should have for an upwind only sail? if we do a peel changes for a new sail for reaching when we round the mark, or does it depend a lot on wind strength?

O.B., with one sail, it's like trying to drive a car with a manual transmission using only one gear. If you're going to be racing in a non one design spinnaker fleet, there's really no getting around the fact that you'll need a few headsails. There's no one best upwind sail, only the one that best matches true wind speed and perhaps the weight you have on the rail. Typically, at a minimum, you'll need an all purpose #1, and a #3. If conditions are right for the #3 upwind and you bear away to a reach, you might do a peel to the AP one, then use a barbour (sp?) hauler to move the sheet lead forward and outboard. If you're sailing shorthanded a lot, a #2 can be useful. Particular races with predominate wind conditions/direction might dictate a very different sail inventory. Some catagories of races have other required storm sails. Talk to other local racers who have similar types of boats, see what they have in their sail inventory, and what they seem to use the most. Bottom line is there's no 'one sail does all' on any point of sail for racing.

[Oysterbob]

thanks again for all replies,

im going to get my sailmaker to cut down our old furling genoa to a 110-120% and try doing a few peel changes on our dual channel forestay foil, if the sail changing proves successfull we can make a decision for a new smaller jib for upwind /stronger wind conditions. Our current sails have been raced for 4 years so prob due for a change soon anyway

[Faster]

Puddin' is right, of course, about racing. We don't race this boat anymore and find the small headsail a cinch to tack. We need about 10 knots true before the boat starts to feel good going upwind. The sails themselves are off of a J105... the main was a fit (barely) but very roachy hence the dyneema backstay and the whip. The jib needed cutting down as the 105 is a 7/8 rig.. that's why the jib is quite small. We also carry an conventional symmetrical kite and a smallish A sail as well. Both get frequent use.

[puddinlegs]

When we're cruising, we bend on the old bagged dacron main. If the wind is 0-10, we use an old #2, and for anything over, the dacron #4 is great... super easy to tack, and the admiral and wee lad stay happy!