Down wind sails

[pissativlypossed]

Thanks all, Good information and plenty to contemplate.

 

[Slowtack]

The parasail type spinnakers (with vent slot for lift) seem to be good for shotrhanders ,stable and not needing pole straight down wind according to a friend who has one.

 

[Yacht Breeze]

Thank you

Thanks to all who have contributed...and especially to a couple of sail makers offering their expert advice. Looks like a cruising chute then, as I suspected.

Fair winds.

 

[whiteshythe]

Perfect Downwind Sails.

We have a Bavaria 40. It has a furling headsail and in-mast furling main. I would like to add a down wind sail. There's usually just the two of us on board so ease of handling is important. Has anyone else got a 40 footer, sailed by husband and wife and discovered the perfect down-wind sail?

My wife & I sail our HR39 downwind with twin headsails. A 130% furling genoa poled out, and a lightweight 180% nylon furling genakker on a short bowsprit. We find this combination much easier to handle than a spinnaker or cruising chute. In winds > 15knots apparent, we furl the genakker and just use the poled out genoa. We also use our genakker when reaching in light winds.
Ours came from Crusader sails.

 

[Sybarite]

We have a Bavaria 40. It has a furling headsail and in-mast furling main. I would like to add a down wind sail. There's usually just the two of us on board so ease of handling is important. Has anyone else got a 40 footer, sailed by husband and wife and discovered the perfect down-wind sail?

Have a look at a twistle rig; it's supposed to be very easy to handle.

http://www.simetric.co.uk/twizzle_rig/index.htm

 

[doris]

The replies so far have focussed on Ocean sailing, and I'd be hard pushed to argue with them for medium - heavy airs tradewind sailing.

If however you were thinking more along the lines of light wind summer coastal sailing, then I'd actually suggest a spinnaker....

The reason I'd suggest a spinnaker instead of a cruising chute is the ability to go downwind by pulling the pole back, coupled with the ability to reach with the pole forward make it more useful over a wider wind range. It's also much more stable when going downwind. True you can set a cruising chute as a spinnaker by poling the tack back - but if you're choosing from scratch why settle for a compromise?

Most cruising couples I've ever met don't go throwing 20 gybes in with the coloured sails up, but set it with 10 miles to go in a straight line and a steady wind. Under those conditions a spinnaker is no problem to handle, and will boost speed in light winds to the point at which you won't have to resort to the engine.

No reason why a cruising chute/asym spinnaker cannot be stuck out on a pole. Put the pole on either the tack or the clew and have the best of all worlds.

 

[flaming]

No reason why a cruising chute/asym spinnaker cannot be stuck out on a pole. Put the pole on either the tack or the clew and have the best of all worlds.

Exactly. However, with my Dad's previous boat he found that he was never flying the cruising chute without poling the tack back, so when he changed boats he went for a propper spinnaker.

 

[SHUG]

Have a look at a twistle rig; it's supposed to be very easy to handle.

http://www.simetric.co.uk/twizzle_rig/index.htm

Yes but where do you get the bits?
I tried making the crucial link for the poles with a stainless ring with eyes welded on but it wasn't very successful. The pole ends tended to clash as the ring swivelled.

 

[KellysEye]

If you are sailing two handed (which we do) putting up a spinnaker and taking it down is a pain, also you will have to take it down when the wind starts getting too much. We use twin poled out headsails which on a furler have an infinite number of sizes appropriate to wind strength. If the passage ends up upwind just overlap them. If you only have one luff groove sew the two sails together. The setup is a twistle rig. The proper hinge is available bespoke to order from Dennis Maidmemt on 023 804 724422. If he is not around call the sailmakers Ratsey and Lapthorne who made the twins for us and put us on to Dennis.

 

[LadyInBed]

We use twin poled out headsails which on a furler have an infinite number of sizes appropriate to wind strength.

I put my second head sail on the inner forestay, then I can adjust the Genoa to suit.
I read somewhere that the air gap between the two sails helps to dampen / prevent rolling, certainly when I have used the 'Twizzle rig' I haven't rolled!

 

[Shuggy]

Most cruising couples I've ever met don't go throwing 20 gybes in with the coloured sails up, but set it with 10 miles to go in a straight line and a steady wind. Under those conditions a spinnaker is no problem to handle, and will boost speed in light winds to the point at which you won't have to resort to the engine.

Agreed. We have an alarmingly large spinnaker on a 43' boat. We only sail as husband and wife plus 3 children under the age of 8. Last year was our first year with the spinnaker (second season with this boat but too chicken to try it in the first one). It's a piece of cake with the two of us plus our 6 year old daughter on the wheel... Or the autopilot if she's a bit reluctant.

It makes downwind runs so much more interesting.