[sirtang]

After watching a lot of cruising youtubes I find that a lot of people sail with just a jib or a combo with a deeply reefed main. Is this really that common?

Is there a narrow window of wind speeds that merit the use of the main?

 

[Bill-Rangatira]

After watching a lot of cruising youtubes I find that a lot of people sail with just a jib or a combo with a deeply reefed main. Is this really that common?

Is there a narrow window of wind speeds that merit the use of the main?

main gives to control over the boat, jib is the power

 

[Sabreman]

You ask two questions.

Yes, people will sometimes use the the genoa. Sometimes for convenience, sometimes when blowing. With just the genoa beware of lee helm. We don't get much lee helm but it can happen depending on boat and sails. In extreme conditions, only a storm jib will be flown.

Is there a narrow window of wind speeds that merit the use of the main?

No, not at all. On our boat, upwind it goes something like this with a LOT of variation (before everyone jumps on me for the exact wind speeds & combos):

0-15 kts: full 145% genoa, full main (adjusting main & genoa shape as wind increases)
15-18: full genoa with the top opened, single reefed main
18-20: 130% genoa, single reefed main
20-24: 130% genoa, double reefed main
24-28: 110% genoa, double reefed main
28-30: 80% genoa, double reefed main (with a lot of bleed off)
30-33: 50% genoa
33+: run off

The idea is to keep the boat as flat as possible with whatever sail combination works. There are no hard and fast rules here. On our boat, we don't like to heel more than 23 or 24 degrees. After that, we're real slow even if it seems more exciting. You can see similar boats walk past us when we sail at greater angles of heel. And then there's the leeway that become preposterous... and the weather helm too, which is like driving with the brakes on. Not accounting for wave action, if you need more than a couple of fingers on the wheel or tiller, your sails need attention.

Keep in mind that with a roller furled genoa, performance degrades significantly as it's rolled up. This is because the shape is designed for 145% (in our case) which means that it's pretty full (meaning that it has a lot of lift), which is what you don't want when the wind increases - you want flatter (less lift). So when it's rolled up, you just have a smaller, too full genoa. In perfect world or on a racing boat, the smaller sails will be increasingly fatter. We had our genoa built somewhat flat in hopes that it would carry into the greater wind speeds better. In practice, it sucks in light air and is too big in heavier air. It's probably going to be augmented with proper light air 155% for summer doldrums and light air racing. Think of airplane wings - a slow piper cub has fat wings with a lot of lift. An F-16 has skinny wings with less lift (because the greater speed will generate enough lift)

 

[pdqaltair]

Read books, for goodness sake. The library is full of them. There is no one answer (varies with boat, course, conditions) and forum answers will be bits and pieces. And don't learn from you tube.

As for White74, it depends on the boat. For beach cats, for example, the main is the power and the jib is for flow control. The main is 3-5 times the size of the main.

So it depends.

 

[Bill-Rangatira]

Read books, for goodness sake. The library is full of them. There is no one answer (varies with boat, course, conditions) and forum answers will be bits and pieces. And don't learn from you tube.

As for White74, it depends on the boat. For beach cats, for example, the main is the power and the jib is for flow control. The main is 3-5 times the size of the main.

So it depends.

yes generally it does vary but the main on a sloop keelboat is basically that way

 

[overbored]

That's great that you are going to take lessons, you will enjoy it and will learn faster the correct way to sail. get the book that the school uses and start reading. most cruising boats are monohulls that do not plane and are limited in speed by the hull speed of the boat (Max Speed it will go). so when the wind is blowing hard you can be over powered by to much sail which can make it harder to control the boat and you will not go any faster then hull speed. it does depend on the type of boat and the type of rig, some have large mains compared to the jib and some the other way around. most boats will sail better with both sails but every boat is slightly different.

 

[capt jgwinks]

It's just so easy to roll out the jib and go, a lot of sailors do out of of laziness. If you're not racing or trying to make a deadline, why go through the extra effort of uncovering and raising the main, then putting it all back away when you're done? Didn't used to be done that way before roller furling was common.

 

[Sailormon6]

The hull of a sailboat pivots on it's center of lateral resistance. By design, the jib is located forward of the CLR, and the mainsail is located aft of it. A sailboat can generally sail fastest and closest to the wind when the forces ahead and aft of the CLR are balanced.

We sail for different reasons at different times. Sometimes we sail to travel to a destination as quickly as possible, and sometimes we sail just to spend some relaxed time with family or friends. If you want to get to a destination quickly and efficiently, then you'll do that best by balancing the sails ahead and aft of the CLR. If you want to relax and pay more attention to conversations than to sail trimming, then you might choose to sail on the jib alone. It's your boat. You can sail it any way you wish.

Personally, I don't fault anyone for choosing to sail on jib alone. I do, however, fault anyone who doesn't bother to learn how to manage their sails efficiently. Until you learn the basics of sail choice and sail trim, you aren't really safe to travel any significant distance on a sailboat, and to put yourself at the mercy of the wind and waves.

 

[Jeff_H]

As is suggested but not said explicitly, the answer lies with the boat design and the skipper. I pretty much agree that the only reason to fly only one sail is laziness. The choice of which sail makes a better choice depends on the boat. Most masthead rigged sloops do not have enough sail area in their mainsails to sail under mainsail alone. The also tend to be harder to steer under mainsail alone. By the same token most fractional rigs do not have enough sail area in their jibs to sail well under their jib alone, and they balance nicely under their mainsails, so a lazy skipper with a fractional rig might only throw up a mainsail. The nice thing about being able to sail under main alone is that gusts still provide weather helm to help the boat feather up, and since the mainsail is self tacking, it's easier to short-tack in confined spaces.
Jeff

 

[jzk]

Why do you think YouTube to be a worse source than "books?"

And why is this forum not a good source for a good question such as this?

Read books, for goodness sake. The library is full of them. There is no one answer (varies with boat, course, conditions) and forum answers will be bits and pieces. And don't learn from you tube.

As for White74, it depends on the boat. For beach cats, for example, the main is the power and the jib is for flow control. The main is 3-5 times the size of the main.

So it depends.

 

[jzk]

Here is my philosophy. I sail a Beneteau 47.7 which has a nice large main.

I try to keep as much main as possible and first reef the roller furling jib.

Here is why. First, focusing on the main allows the boat to point higher. Also, the main can handle a wider range of wind speeds than can the jib. So, when there is a gust, having more main and less jib will make it easier to handle that brief moment of being overpowered. A quick dump of the traveler, etc.

Finally, my boat just shines in strong winds with a full main and a small jib. Whatever is "lost" furling the jib is gained by having the power and pointing ability of the full main.

Most people that sail jib only do it out of laziness, and there is nothing wrong with that. For me, when you consider the cost per hour of sailing, I think it worth the "trouble" to hoist the main

After watching a lot of cruising youtubes I find that a lot of people sail with just a jib or a combo with a deeply reefed main. Is this really that common?

Is there a narrow window of wind speeds that merit the use of the main?

 

[T37Chef]

I tend to prefer to balance the boat using both but sometimes if I am single handing just for a quick sail I may just fly the headsail.

Unless you're on the boat, there is no reason to judge another's choice. For example, I am sure some were scratching their heads last year as we entered Sandy Hook under a triple reefed main and full genny... no one knew we ripped our main just above the 2nd reef. We're we lazy? Did we appear to incompetent? No one would know...just say'in

 

[pdqaltair]

^^ And this is way the OP needs to read.

* my last boat was a Stiletto 27. While she had a genoa, when the wind got up I would adjust the dagerboard back, set a tiny flat storm jib and a full main, load up the rudders (very deep and high aspect) and climb to windward.

* On my current boat the keels are set too far forward, she is much heavier, and so a full genoa and 1 reef in the main is good to windward in a breeze. As I reef further, it is always one more reef in the main than the genny. She almost wont sail under main alone, in any conditions--she just pivots into the wind unless she is already moving (no jib is fine during changes, just not tacking or jibing).

So it depends, and that is not a mono/multi statement. It's about balance.

And that said, I have sailed genoa only a few times:
* Sometimes lazy, and several times injured (back or knee).
* Often trolling (just enough, and easy to wind in to work a big fish)