[OldEagle]

I recently bought an old Albin Vega; will be sailing it on the Chesapeake & lower Potomac, cruising, not racing. No roller furling. I have a no.1 jib & no. 2 jib, both good, but the genoa was shot, so I'll need to replace it. I'm planning to buy a used one, 150% +/-.

I've identified a couple of satisfactory prospects. One is made of 6 oz dacron; one of 4 oz ripstop dacron. I'm leaning towards the lighter fabric; my questions are: as a general principle, for my intended use, is there a reason to go with the heavier fabric? Would the (presumably) greater strength of the heavier fabric matter enough to overcome the potential advantages of lighter fabric in the light air conditions in which I'd be using it?

 

[Markwesti]

I would say the 4oz. as this will be your light air sail . Or you could go with the 6oz. and you could call it your intermediate head sail , and get a very light drifter . Drifters are great , you could fly the drifter to lee and pole out the 1 or 2 to the windy side , that would be, going a little off, dead down wind . Drifters love to reach too . My friend bought a spinnaker and had it cut into a drifter. We have the stock drifter that came with the boat ,sorry I don't know the weight but it is made of spinnaker cloth . We try to get it down at around 7-8 kts.
https://www.google.com/search?q=a+d...r-half-moon-bay-santa-cruz-and.html;1539;1600

 

[bobmcgov]

I recently bought an old Albin Vega; will be sailing it on the Chesapeake & lower Potomac, cruising, not racing. No roller furling. I have a no.1 jib & no. 2 jib, both good, but the genoa was shot, so I'll need to replace it. I'm planning to buy a used one, 150% +/-.

I've identified a couple of satisfactory prospects. One is made of 6 oz dacron; one of 4 oz ripstop dacron. I'm leaning towards the lighter fabric; my questions are: as a general principle, for my intended use, is there a reason to go with the heavier fabric? Would the (presumably) greater strength of the heavier fabric matter enough to overcome the potential advantages of lighter fabric in the light air conditions in which I'd be using it?

How large is the #1 you have now? I agree w/ Markwesti that nylon drifters are the cat's meow, especially in light-air venues like the Chessie. Very easy to set and douse, store in a tiny bag, and can gin up apparent wind out of nothing. The trouble with large Dacron genoas (~150%, esp. crosscut) is that if built heavy enuf to resist stretch in moderate winds, they sag & collapse under their own weight in anything less than 7kts. Nylon will take shape and stay inflated even in a swell in winds as light as 1-2kts.

Nylon also stretches out of shape quite easily, so you need to pay close attention to that. Our rule is first whitecap, the drifter comes down. Since we have roller furling on the regular jib, the sail change is easily done w/out leaving the cockpit.

Here is a Vega flying a nylon drifter in the PNW:

 

[OldEagle]

How large is the #1 you have now?

No 1 jib is about 147 sq ft with an 11'2" foot--it's a big step down from what a 150% genoa would be

 

[GeorgeB]

Old Eagle, can you see the two sails in person? The reason I ask is the "ripstop Dacron" has me a little puzzled. I raced on a boat that had a super light air #1. It was made of really thin filaments and you could deform it by poking your finger on it. I was foredeck and I hated it. It had a WS range of under 5kts or so. It was a constant hoist and peal and because it was so delicate, a PITA fold and stow. Your sail most likely isn't this material but double check. In regular Dacron and 10-12 kts, my guess 4 oz would work.

 

[RichH]

For a 135-150% I would suggest 4-5oz dacron for the Mid Chesapeake. This would be stable enough for the occasional 'sea breezes' of mid to late afternoon during 'the doldrums' of mid-summer.

As for the light-weight 'drifter' ...
• light weight (0.75oz.) ripstop nylon will be very vulnerable to UV 'burn', especially if made of 'light' and 'green' colors. You can expect only a few hundred 'hours' of exposure before the fabric starts to become 'weakened'.
• For any nylon 'drifter' the problem is 'stretch' under max. wind loading (10-12kts) you really have 'watch' the immense sag (to leeward) that develops along the luff section at the designed max. wind strength; otherwise such a sail will become very 'draft aft'. Such a 'sagged off' and draft aft shape can be 'fun' as it will induce more heel but the aerodynamics for going upwind (pointing ability) will quickly drop off unless you 'follow' and continually tighten the halyard to affect correction of that sag as the windstrength increases ( note such an effect in the above video ... about 2+Ft. of luff sag).
For that sag anomaly I would recommend taking that drifter to a sail loft and get a luff stripe added so that you can visualize when the luff becomes too sagged off to leeward - just a simple 3/8" luff stripe ... or just a row of 'dark' zig-zag stitching ... added and run along and (several inches) behind the luff curve/hollow at the the leading edge. (an explanation for this anomaly: http://www.ftp.tognews.com/GoogleFiles/Matching Luff Hollow.pdf ... especially applicable for 'free flying' nylon headsails). IMO- For such 'light wind' sailing its really better to use a light weight 'attached' jib/genoa to maintain maximum forward speed when going anywhere above a beam reach going in the right direction so you keep your 'apparent wind' as high as possible; and then, use a (asymm) spinnaker for close reaching on 'down' ... to keep the apparent wind as high as possible due to 'boat speed'. This works just as well for 'cruising' as well as racing.
Sorry for the racing-speak; but, the racing adage would apply to those light and flukey days on the Chesapeake: "when in doubt, fly the SPINNAKER".

 

[bobmcgov]

• light weight (0.75oz.) ripstop nylon

Most upwind nylon sails are built of 1.0 to 1.5oz material

• ...( note such an effect in the above video ... about 2+Ft. of luff sag).

Also note an Albin Vega is making 6.5kts close reaching in ~10kts true.

These are good points, Rich, but except on Volvo Ocean racers packing Cuben Fiber Code Zeros, most kick-about sailors are willing to sacrifice ten degrees of pointing for pure boat speed. A bit of luff sag and imperfect draft control is a fair price. In fact, a properly-constructed Code sail has a positive luff round or knuckle which exploits luff sag to create a round, powerful, and stable leading edge. They are cut draft-forward in the expectation the CofE will move back as the luff sags & the material stretches. That's certainly how we built ours.