Anybody ever used a Genoa as a mainsail?

[jimi]

With a ripped mainsail would you turn back or carry on? - Yachting Monthly

 

[TernVI]

Sounds like a good way to alter your problem from having one ruined sail, to having two ruined sails.

 

[michael_w]

A very good argument for having a trysail.

A mate did a fair proportion of the ARC with a blade 3 genoa rigged as a trysail after they shredded the main,

 

[capnsensible]

Excellent jury rig. Better for long distance sailors. ?

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Excellent jury rig. Better for long distance sailors. ?

Depending on the boat size, could you more or less get away without slugs ?

I new there was a reason why I hung onto my old storm jib.

 

[Kelpie]

I'm really surprised that YM suggested hoisting the sail the wrong way round, leach forward. No way of securing what is now the luff to the mast so you'll get terrible luff sag.
Surely it would be better to just top the boom way up, or if your gooseneck won't allow that, improvise using the spinny pole?

 

[tony_lavelle]

deleted after reading the article in question.

 

[TernVI]

In these comic-book scenarios the wind is always something like 185T
A race officer would love a wind that stays constant to the nearest 5 degrees.

Personally I would be looking at forecasts to see how the wind is going to develop over the relevant time.
Then consider currents etc.
If the wind is going to shift or bend, how does that change things?
Making progress under genoa only until you get within dieseling range might be a far better plan than wrecking a sail.
Maybe consider getting fuel at St Ives? Or Scilly?
It says the boat is slow. How slow?
What is the true cost in being a day late for work? Will that buy a new genoa?
I think setting a genoa the right way around as a trysail has possibilities. If it will work in the mast slot.
You can set the tack at the foot of the mast instead of the gooseneck maybe?
Obviously, the older your spare sails, the less it matters. If you had an old sail you didn't mind wrecking you could use it the wrong way around, bodge slides onto it, whatever.
If you have a storm jib with a wire/dyneema luff that might be useful.
How many hours would it take to sail back to Ireland and tank up with fuel?

 

[capnsensible]

Depending on the boat size, could you more or less get away without slugs ?

I new there was a reason why I hung onto my old storm jib.

Good plan! I did it with a small jib, with the foot running up the mast. Luff along the boom. Set pretty rubbish but worked.

The author of the article used to examen Instructors and he got our class of candidates doing all sorts of imaginative stuff. I learnt masses.

 

[capnsensible]

In these comic-book scenarios the wind is always something like 185T
A race officer would love a wind that stays constant to the nearest 5 degrees.

Personally I would be looking at forecasts to see how the wind is going to develop over the relevant time.
Then consider currents etc.
If the wind is going to shift or bend, how does that change things?
Making progress under genoa only until you get within dieseling range might be a far better plan than wrecking a sail.
Maybe consider getting fuel at St Ives? Or Scilly?
It says the boat is slow. How slow?
What is the true cost in being a day late for work? Will that buy a new genoa?
I think setting a genoa the right way around as a trysail has possibilities. If it will work in the mast slot.
You can set the tack at the foot of the mast instead of the gooseneck maybe?
Obviously, the older your spare sails, the less it matters. If you had an old sail you didn't mind wrecking you could use it the wrong way around, bodge slides onto it, whatever.
If you have a storm jib with a wire/dyneema luff that might be useful.
How many hours would it take to sail back to Ireland and tank up with fuel?

Why would it wreck the sail? Have you tried it?

I reckon the article is about an exercise in seamanship rather than dodging the question. ?

But it's got everyone thinking and some of your ideas might work.

 

[TernVI]

Why would it wreck the sail? Have you tried it?

I reckon the article is about an exercise in seamanship rather than dodging the question. ?

But it's got everyone thinking and some of your ideas might work.

I think it would wreck the sail, because a genoa designed to set with the luff in a slot will have a relatively stretchy luff, with the cloth fibres not at 90deg/parallel to the edge, so the cloth will stretch horribly.

Last time I had a slightly difficult return from a cruise westwards, as I got close to Portland, having defeated dodgy weather, sickness and a couple of other challenges, my phone picked upa text message saying 'Don't Come Monday'.
It's only work, find another job when the days start getting too short.

Put the kite up, go to Wales, get the bus.

 

[[3889]]

Making progress under genoa only until you get within dieseling range might be a far better plan than wrecking a sail.

My thoughts also on a passage of that length. Even if the sail ain't damaged it's no easy task to set up that jury rig and I'd be thinking about exhaustion and MOB hazards more than worrying about making better way to windward. On a longer passage then hove to / drogue, as demonstrated on Northcave's recent post in similar circumstances.

 

[doug748]

I might see how high I could go but keep the speed up.
If things failed to improve heading for Padstow would be up my sleeve, easy transport to Falmouth and pick the boat up the boat up the following weekend.

.

 

[capnsensible]

Is the point being missed here? I don't think it's to pick holes in the given scenario. It's about how to think outside normal and have ideas for jury rigs. And there are things you can actually try.

How often do people who own a storm jib hoist it in harbour for practice, then at sea, for example?

This is a nice thread for sharing those ideas.

Here's one. If you happen to be on a sailing school yacht with keen fast trackers, try hoisting a storm jib up the back stray using the topping lift and sail backwards around the anchorage where sea horses now roam free. ?

 

[TernVI]

Is the point being missed here? I don't think it's to pick holes in the given scenario. It's about how to think outside normal and have ideas for jury rigs. And there are things you can actually try.

How often do people who own a storm jib hoist it in harbour for practice, then at sea, for example?

This is a nice thread for sharing those ideas.

Here's one. If you happen to be on a sailing school yacht with keen fast trackers, try hoisting a storm jib up the back stray using the topping lift and sail backwards around the anchorage where sea horses now roam free. ?

Agreed.
It's an interesting problem, to which 'jury rig' is not the only answer.
It's also an interesting discussion point around single things which can break and put you in a difficult position.
Lesson the first, most boats only carry one mansail, it needs to stay in one piece!

Also, maybe it's useful to know how well the boat can sail on genoa only.
I have found a lot of boats go surprisingly well. Some boats you find dumping the mainsheet doesn't instantly slow the boat or result in it bearing off very much. (or is this only when you're on a collision course with something really shiny?)
How should the genoa be set to get best windward progress? Is it worth trying your boat to see what it's like?

Also I wouldn't have criticsed anyone who turned back in this situation. It's Ireland not some remote rock near Borneo. They have planes, sailmakers and pubs.

ISTR some odd model yacht rig in a book, where 3 sails were set, one of them a sort of jib on the backstay, tacked down to windward somehow?

 

[capnsensible]

I can kinda remember the old style YM boat reports with Geoff Pack (?) and sailing upwind with Genoa only always featured.

I've been obliged to do that on a Jenneau 36 in some heavy airs, bumpy conditions and it was much better after we had dropped the main. As an example.

 

[capnsensible]

Mainsails on commercial boats do take a hammering and it's not that rare to have to deal with it. ?

 

[DJE]

Could you get the bottom bit of the main to set by rigging ropes from the 3rd reef points to the headboard?
Or maybe put the halyard on the luff reef point and the topping lift on the leech reef Point.

 

[ANDY_W]

Why not consider going to Milford Haven? There doesn't appear to be much difference in distance.
The point of sail becomes a beam reach without the stopping effect of the waves as in a beat.
The spare foresail could be set up as a reaching sail tacked to the foot of the mast with the mainsail boom on the windward side to hold it out. Much less stress on the sail.
I'm sure that even Wales has trains or car available. Leave the boat there, get a local sailmaker to repair the sail enough to get back to Falmouth and get the boat back home another day.

 

[TernVI]

Why not consider going to Milford Haven? There doesn't appear to be much difference in distance.
..

Because it's more foreign than where you started from?

Seriously, in the prevailing wind, it's not really progress.

But if I tried to carry on for Lands End and realised it wasn't going to work, ending up in Wales is just one of those things,
Play the hand that's dealt you.