genoa cunningham

[H4B]

My roller reefed genoa tends to get a bit baggy after several rolls even with padded luff.

I was thinking that with the addition of a few well placed cringles along the foot I could attach a cunningham led to cock pit to give better luff tension as sail is furled specially when it gets small . Would it work? Cheaper than a recut?

Cheers

 

[flaming]

I have doubts that it would work, as I think it could end up messing the furl up at the bottom of the sail rather than tensioning. Plus the new "head" of the sail is not really secured so I think you'll just make a mess of the furl.

And it of course ruins the one major advantage of the roller furling genoa - not having to go the bow to reef.
If you've no problem working on the bow why not drop it and swap it for a smaller sail when the wind pipes up? You can still use the furler to roll the smaller sail away at the end of the passage.
This will make your genoa last longer too!

 

[H4B]

Thanks , yes ofcourse had forgotten head issue.
Quite happy going forward and yes the small sail idea is the way to go . Do those little attachments that introduce the sail into the foil actually work?

 

[flaming]

You mean the pre feeders? Commonly known as the "dog's bollocks'" in racing terminology?

Yes they work very well indeed!

 

[H4B]

OK .So if I am single handing and I set the thing up could I then return to the cock pit confident that it would hoist without a stop ?. If so Ill buy one.

Cheers

 

[flaming]

Yes.

On race boats they are used for exactly that, since when rehoisting the jib and dropping the kite the bowman is a busy man so the idea is that the jib goes up without any attention from him.

They can take a bit of setting up though. The best way is to leave them permanently tied to the furler, but you have to then be careful not to have it on too long a string or you'll wind it into the drum when you furl.

 

[flaming]

Oh, forgot to add, make sure you get the whole of the luff of the sail as far forward as possible. When they don't work it's because the feeder is trying to pull the sail from several feet back.

 

[H4B]

Thanks flaming, any recommendations re brand.

 

[flaming]

er.... I have absolutely no idea what brand of dogs bollocks are used on any of the boats I sail!

 

[michael_w]

Spinlock
Wichard

 

[simonfraser]

and how is this smaller head sail going to stay nicely foreward on the foredeck when it's too windy to fly the genoa ????

 

[Duncantaz]

The Wichard pre-feeders really are the dogs bollocks as they can be split to insert/remove a sail without having to feed it through.

D.