Downwind sails

Malo37

Malo37

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Is there such a thing as a light downwind sail that can be used in conjunction with my standard Furlex headsail furling gear. i.e. utilises the slot in the foil and can be kept permanently bent on and rolled up when not in use ?
 
Neither a 150% genoa nor a C0 are downwind sails in the normal sense of the word (I mean they can be used downwind, but...).

The short answer is no. There are some assymetrics that can be used with top down furlers, but a) they're more reachy cuts as you need a straightish luff, and b) you'll probably spend as much on the furler as the sail.
 
We have a cruising chute on a top down furler (Italian can't rememebr the brand) which I try to remember to set up using the spinnaker halyard to the bow roller if I am on a trip I think I might use it.. It's easier to set up before I set off, but then very easy to launch and recover, doesn't interfere with the Genoa when it is furled ( although if I am truthful if think it does distort the airflow a bit over the leading edge of the Genoa)

I think it would meet well what I think you are describing
 
We had a twin headsail twistle rig the sails were sewn together because we only had one slot in the foil. There are twin poles linked by a fitting with hinge at both ends for the poles and a ring top and bottom for the uphaul and downhaul. As they are free flying they cut down on rolling, a pole atttached to the mast pushes the mast and vice versa. One benefit compared to a spinnaker is you can reef it, yachts going over the Atlantic took their spinnakers down at night in case the wind went right up.
 
KellysEye said:
We had a twin headsail twistle rig the sails were sewn together because we only had one slot in the foil.
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In many ways that's the better set-up, even if the foil has twin grooves: does away with the need for twin halyards and associated issues. On the other hand it means the sails can't be used as a conventional furling yankee, except laid one on the other. Compromises, always compromises...
 
Topcat47 said:
What exactly is a"top down furler"? I'm familiar with snuffers, slabs and rollers, but not heard the term.
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It's basically a furler that furls around a rope instead of a foil with a stay inside. That means it can be taken down and stowed when not needed, and when you need it you just hoist the whole sausage including furling wheel (always using an endless line, not a drum) and then unfurl it. Like this:


It's a neat solution, but quite expensive.
 
Just found some references to a 'Drifter' which is apparently a very lightweight nylon Genoa which can be bent onto the foil. Anyone had experience of such a sail ?
 
Yngmar said:
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Goodness me, I have a couple of these (Facnor ones) and would certainly NOT recommend attaching the final turning block to the stanchions in the manner described. The deflective forces are way to high for a stanchion in any wind !!
 
Light wind we put the kite up (less than 7-8knts I guess) other wise had a No1 and No2 Genoa rolled together, one poled out with the pole the other through a snatch block on the boom end, no need for the main. That took us across the pond.

c6c0b61a.jpg


With more crew we sailed with the kite up day and night, in anything up to 25knts.
 
dom said:
Goodness me, I have a couple of these (Facnor ones) and would certainly NOT recommend attaching the final turning block to the stanchions in the manner described. The deflective forces are way to high for a stanchion in any wind !!
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I've been wondering about that - maybe they have some very sturdy stanchions on that Arcona! ;-) On my boat I'd just lead it along the bottom of the stanchions on the opposite side of the genoa furler with a turning block at the pushpit - that works ok even on my flimsy stanchions.

Not that that is something I'll need to worry about unless a big bag of money gets entangled in my propeller somehow.
 
>On the other hand it means the sails can't be used as a conventional furling yankee, except laid one on the other. Compromises, always compromises...

You can overlap them if sailing offwind we did that if arriving somewhere with that wind direction, it saved us changing back to the genoa. When we got new furling gear with two slots we had the sails separated. In both cases one halyard is needed.
 
dom said:
Goodness me, I have a couple of these (Facnor ones) and would certainly NOT recommend attaching the final turning block to the stanchions in the manner described. The deflective forces are way to high for a stanchion in any wind !!
Click to expand...

Yngmar said:
I've been wondering about that - maybe they have some very sturdy stanchions on that Arcona! ;-) On my boat I'd just lead it along the bottom of the stanchions on the opposite side of the genoa furler with a turning block at the pushpit - that works ok even on my flimsy stanchions.

Not that that is something I'll need to worry about unless a big bag of money gets entangled in my propeller somehow.
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I have the 'code 0' variant of the Selden furler and while I clip the continuous furling line cleat to a pad eye on deck the loads are quite modest although I don't think I would want to mount it half way up the stantion!
 
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