"Tall Boy" vs. small Genoa

owenmccall · #1 (**permalink**) 02-10-2005

I recently purchased an old IOR racer that came with a passel of sails. Mostly these vary in size and weight and it is clear when one would hoist which. However, two have me puzzled: One is labeled "Tall Boy". It has dimensions, Foot:14'', Luff:23'', Leach: 21'', for an area of ~152sq.ft. The other is labeled "Genoa Staysail" and has dimensions, Foot:13'', Luff:33'', Leach:31'', for an area of ~203sq.ft. So though roughly equivalent in area, one''s hoist is almost half-again higher than the other. The cloth weights are about the same. Could someone explain to me the relative uses of these two sails? i.e. is one for reaching, the other for pointing? Or something else? Thanks.

Owen McCall
S&S30

paulk · #2 (**permalink**) 02-10-2005

Both these sails are for increasing flow through the foredeck "slot". The Tallboy is for setting with the spinnaker. The Genoa staysail is self-evident. The tacks of these sails may need to be moved around on different points of sail or windspeeds in order to find the most effective spot to fly them. Sail magazine''s book of sail trim has some good pointers on using sails like these. We set a tallboy once and went nuts getting it to work right. We hoisted it, sheeted it in, and dropped a quarter knot below base speed. We eased the sheet in order to drop it, and picked up a quarter knot over base speed. We dropped the tallboy and lost half a knot. We ended up leaving it up, luffing for half it''s length, because that was the fastest way to have it. Wierd.

owenmccall · #3 (**permalink**) 02-11-2005

Thanks for the tip. Are you speaking of Best of SAIL Trim, edited by Charles Mason (2000), or New Book of Sail Trim, edited by Ken Textor (1995)? (Both are SAIL magazine anthologies.)

Thanks,

Owen McCall

paulk · #4 (**permalink**) 02-16-2005

I think I like the older one better. It has various authors who explain their real-life experiences and how different approaches worked for them. In the newer one I believe they go into a lot of technical stuff about sailcloth. That type of information gets obsolete quickly with design improvements. The aerodynamics that both books deal with haven''t changed much since Ook first stood up with his fur coat in the dugout.