Ensign, Tradewind sailing with a Gennaker

nickrj

nickrj

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I have a question about the flag I've been flying. I have a British registered boat, and I've been flying the British flag. I am Australian, with secondary German citizenship. Can I fly the Australian flag? The Reeds Almanac says the Ensign is an indication of the skippers nationality, not the boats, but I'm confused.

A friend has offered the use of a Gennaker for my tradewind passage, and before I take up the generous offer, I was wondering, is it going to be of use, or are double poled out genoas going to be better? The only issue I have, is I don't own a spinnaker pole for the second genoa. A gennaker needs no such poles (I've never flown one), and will propel me at greater speeds I'm sure. Has anyone done the tradewind route using a Gennaker? I am alone too, so that is something to consider regarding handling...

Cheers! nick
 
Gennakers fine for lower windspeeds up to about 16kts apparent on my boat, but will not go dead downwind, only to about 165 degrees. It is fast though at beam reach.
I admire the look of the Twizzle rig, particularly one that I saw with the universal articulating joint made from leather and ordinary braid on braid. Both Genoas on one furling gear, roll away together

Have a look at these 3 short (about 6Mb each) videos.



 
I have always believed that the ensign reflects the ship's registered country and so should be the British one, but if Reed's says otherwise then I too am confused. Your Australian (and/or German) ensign could be flown from the port spreader, leaving the starboard one free for the courtesy flag of whatever country you enter and declare in.
 
I use just a single roller furling genoa with a pole so it can be reefed as required. I clip on the pole when the sail is rolled up as this is so much safer. I then use a preventer on the main.

I do think twin poled out genoas on one track are a good idea for dead downwind sailing but have always had enough wind for just one. Getting the second one off when the wind and sea is getting up and not directly downwind might be difficult when singlehanded. Same probably applies to a gennaker.
 
Having done some quick research, particularly in Oppenheim's International Law where maritime aspects are considered, there is no doubt that the ensign should be of the "flagging state" that registered the ship. This is entirely logical as the skipper can change at any point and has no reference to the legal responsibilities of the ship and nation that registered her.

How Reed's, normally quite authorative, could make such a basic error is beyond me.
 
With your next leg being pretty much dead downwind you will find twin headsails better than a gennaker. You only need one pole. Run the sheet for the other genoa through a block off the end of the boom. I've found you don't need a main on this route. Much less wear and chafe, so just lash the boom out with a preventer and it becomes a pole.

Its easy to flop one genoa inside the other, if they are hanked, or if its a twin track roller you can roll them up together. If its hanked and you want to be able to drop it quickly without going right up the front tie a light line on the head as you hoist. I've done this single handed as you can quickly release the halyard and pull it down to the deck from somewhere near the mast.
 
I think a jib downhaul as suggested by Tiga Wave is a good idea for a singlehander; you can get the jib down on deck from the mast where you are still in control of the halyard. You need to use a really supple line, a well used 4mm braid would be good. I based mine on this Bruce Bingham sketch and it worked well:
downhaul408x600.jpg


Good luck and fair winds on the next leg!
 
Never seen a twizzle in real life but they do look interesting. Good name anyway. What happens when you roll the sails, though, do the poles just move forward? On the videos it doesn't look like there are any lines attached to the outboard end of the poles, just the joint in the centre. And while we're chatting about poles, anyone tried using a piece of bamboo? I was in hong kong a little while ago and they use it for scaff out there, 100's feet up the outside highrise buildings, really strong (in compression) and light. And massivly cheaper than the chandelry options. Haven't seen any floating around the canaries but might be some here somewhere....
 
As I understand it, the pole ends rise wiith the clew as it furls, and you can adjust the poles so they overlap in the middle,
Dont see why you couldnt use bamboo if you whipped the areas of stress. I would carry a lot of spares though /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I would carry a lot of spares though /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ] Now the thread on growing plants onboard seemed quite positive........
 
We have a twistle rig with two sails sewn together using one luff groove. To reef you just ease both sheets and furl, no need to adjust the poles and it gives an infite number of sail sizes. Much better and safer than any other system IMO.

The only issue we've had is if the wind drops and there is a swell running the universal joint lift (spinnaker pole lift) goes to the middle of the mast and we got excessive mast pump as the sails slatted.

Cured it by temporarily using one twistle pole (they are thinner than spinnaker poles) and one spinnaker pole on the compression side both attached direct to the mast, until the wind came up again.
 
Couple of questions about the interesting Twistle Rig.

1. When you want to come onto the wind do you take the twin headsails down and rig a single headsail or do you sail with one sail lying on top of the other? If the latter, do they chafe on each other and do they set ok in light airs like that? [I'm thinking you have, in effect, a single sail made of extra heavyweight cloth]

2. When it is furled it must make a very large diameter roll with consequent extra windage. Does this cause any problems?
 
Excuse me if this is obvious, but I can't quite see the twizzle with its twin poles being a huge advantage (if at all) over a pole for one sail and the boom end block for the other?

The only thing is you have to adjust the pole height as you roll up some sail. Well you don't have to, but it sets better if the pole is lifted as it moves forwards. The boom end pole set up does allow a bit more sail movement but it was never a problem.

Varying wind angles where the twizzle I guess helps were not a problem as we steered to wind angle.

I could never tell the difference between twin sails rolled and one, they were very similar if rolled neatly.
 
As others say, it is surprising that Reeds should make such a mistake. In harbour though, it is becoming customary on blue water ànd charter boats for the crew to fly their national flag(s), if different from the boat, on the port signal halliard. Tthe starboard one is of course reserved for the courtesy ensign.
 
Replying to three posts:

>1. When you want to come onto the wind do you take the twin headsails down and rig a single headsail or do you sail with one sail lying on top of the other? If the latter, do they chafe on each other and do they set ok in light airs like that?

If turning upwind after a long downwind sail we take the poles down and overlap the sails. They don't chafe, indeed they don't really move against each other. The only thing you can't do is reach, the sails try to separate (unless you can reach the clews and tie them together). They seem to set fine but in light airs you would want to change to a light airs sail anyway.

>2. When it is furled it must make a very large diameter roll with consequent extra windage. Does this cause any problems?

Our genoa is 8oz cloth and the twins 5oz. But the twins don't have a sacrificial strip (we only use them for downwind work then they come down). Net result is if anything the twins are smaller when furled.

>Excuse me if this is obvious, but I can't quite see the twizzle with its twin poles being a huge advantage...

They cut down rolling. A traditional downwind rig has the sails pushing the mast, the mast pushing the sails as the boat rolls. A twistle rig flies free of the boat's movement.


>One question. where do the jibs sheet to, genoa or spinaker blocks

We use the normal genoa blocks but then we use those for the kite too.
 
For a yacht to be British registered, the majority owner has to be British.
As you are Australian, presumably the British registration is no longer valid.
A foreign national can only hold a maximum of 31 of the 64 shares.
 
[ QUOTE ]
For a yacht to be British registered, the majority owner has to be British.
As you are Australian, presumably the British registration is no longer valid.
A foreign national can only hold a maximum of 31 of the 64 shares.

[/ QUOTE ]

No.

For SSR registration, a commonwealth citizen is able to own and register a boat just as a Brit can, assuming they have/had a UK address at the time of registration.
 
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