Furling genoa Size

[shaunb]

I have now fitted a roller furler on the "Ecume de Mer". I have ordered a new Genoa from kemp, who I had a new mainsail from a few months ago, and was delighted with. They have recommended a 145% genoa. I had in my mind that the boat would require no more than a 130%. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[boatmike]

In the long distant past I had an "Ecume" down in Cornwall that I used to race and cruise. I had hanked on sails and I had a choice of 4 headsails of different sizes in different weights of cloth. Super little boat with superb performance especially to windward! In light airs you will find a 145% a boon if you really want max performance especially if you keep the weight of cloth down. In anything 4 and upwards you will need to reef it though and then the shape will be awful. If you only cruise 130% in a medium weight cloth is big enough and a good compromise.
Hope this helps.

 

[bedouin]

I tend to agree with you on this one - I have a 150% furling genoa and it is a rather poor compromise. The material it is made of is too heavy to work well in the sort of light winds that really require the larger sail.,

I also have a 130% - which is a much more useful sail, apart from the fact that on my boat I lose about 5 degrees sheeting angle with the smaller sail so suffer a bit upwind

 

[Slow_boat]

I sailed on a Nijad with a fairly heavy furling yankee that was about 120% and the owner swore that he hadn't noticed a drop in performance compared to the standard genoa.

I suppose that if you want more go in lighter winds you could use a reacher or whatever they're called these days.

 

[gardenshed]

I have a 150% genoa that came with the boat. I wanted a smaller sail as the all round cuising sail and recon that 110 120% is about right. The sailmaker that I used (in Greece) made it slightly larger than I wanted but it is well cut (tri radial) and has a foam luff to keep it flat when furled so I'm not too upset
Why 110-120%?
Easier to tack.
If 10kts or more you'll sail really well
When it blows harder you'll have a far better shape that makes the boat easier to control than a partially rolled big genoa.
When there is less wind & you are on a passage, Dr Diesel and his rotating friend will help you along. If just messing around, even in light airs, you'll have planty of fun.
Interestingly when I explained this to a sialmakier friend of mine, he had come to the same conculsion for his own boat.

 

[michael_w]

FWIW I'd go for a 135% Tri-radial cut in Pentex with a taffeta backing and a padded luff.

Don't be frightened by laminate sails. I had a genoa made to these specs and was still perfect 18,000 miles later, a small amount of leach curl excepted.

 

[johnphilip]

We have a 130% genoa which came with the boat. I initially felt cheated as this meant approx 30M2 instead of the 33 given in the specification. However now delighted with the ease of tacking and trimming. We are much more likely to sail up the river into the wind than most yotties. Only downside is that beating is slower than diesel so our continuing to enjoy sailing makes ours the last arrival, but we do feel we have had more out of the day. The genoa is much easier to bring around the mast than on pur previous Westerly Fulmar