Foam luff

[Jonathanpaul]

Just looking in to a new genoa for my Beneteau first 26. Some sail makers say don't bother other say go for it.
Can I have your thoughts?

 

[flaming]

How often do you sail with a part rolled sail upwind?
If you're the type of person who prefers to motorsail with the main to windward when it gets a bit interesting, then you probably don't need the foam luff.

But I have to say they are excellent at flattening the sail when it's part furled.

 

[Skyva_2]

Foam luff gives better reefing at least for the first few rolls.

 

[Jonathanpaul]

I always try to have it all out but with the old one looking like a bag its rolled up from time to time. My thinking is with a new sail the shape will be better. Do they compromise performance when the sail is fully rolled out?

 

[Skyva_2]

Your new sail will be a better shape in strong winds but will still 'bag' when rolled 4 or 5 times. The foam will help there; its effect on performance when not rolled is not noticeable. As above, it depends on how often you want to sail to windward when a full sail is too much.

 

[simonfraser]

definately helps. you will need a tight luff for it to furl correctly, mine only did so with a dyneema halyard.

 

[Aja]

Yes you will find sailing with a foam luff different.

The sail is either 'on' or 'off', if sailing too close to the wind you dont get much time before a whole section of luff lifts due to the rigidness of the foam.

Difficult to explain but you soon get used to it. We've had ours now for two seasons, and to be honest have had to use the reefing facility in real earnest two or three times in that period but the sail shape for 4-5 rolls is good.

The cost extra was about £250 so for the amount of times we have used this is quite expensive per go - so far....

Donald

 

[doug748]

Well worth it in my opinion. You will go much better to windward in a blow. However I do have a boat which is biased towards headsail area and windward work, I never motorsail. Even with a smaller headsail rig I would always invest in something which puts off the moment when the dreaded engine has to be started

 

[ditchcrawler]

I had a foam luff on my new Tri radial genny.Agree it gives a better shape when reefed.

 

[michael_w]

An alternative is to pad the luff out with rope in a special pocket. I guess rope doesn't compress as much as foam.

I've had this done on two sails, both of which set well when reefed. Sails were made in a tri-radial cut from a cruising Pentex laminate which gives no bias stretch whn compared to cross-cut Dacron.

 

[waterboy]

I second the rope idea. I have had a foam luff which compressed into virtual uselessness but the rope in a luff pocket helps set a part furled sail a treat.

 

[dulcibella]

After 10 years the foam luff in my genoa (made by Gowen) is still very effective in providing a reasonable sail shape.

 

[awol]

I tend to use my old No2 genoa when it blows - higher cut clew than the No1 and thus better sheet angle if/when rolled. Problem was the bagginess with 3 or 4 rolls. Solution was a couple of 1 metre lengths of pipe lagging foam (the thin stuff from B&Q @ 99p per metre) fitted over the foil before rolling. Tends not to hang around long if you fully unroll the sail but flattens the luff nicely where it is wrapped.