How do you use a sail like this

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ifoxwell

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Just bought a new boat and I'm going through stuff as you do, and found this.

Given that this has standard size hanks and the boat as a roller furler how do I use it?

Thanks20200322_123246.jpg
 
Is the boat a ketch or schooner perhaps?
The proportions (unless distorted by the camera) look like close to an isosceles triangle - the maker's label indicatng the side that is the foot.

I wonder if it's a mizzen stays'l? Seeems very high cut for a regular staysl.
 
You may have the old original jib from before the furler ... or one of them.

My old Snapdragon had 5 foresails before I fitted the furler ... all different sizes and cuts.

My present boat has had a furler all time I have owned it - but I still have 3 hanked jibs in the barn ...

As Post #2 says - to use it - if you want to on the furler - you will need to fit a luff suitable to fit the furler groove.
 
If you have a backstay, could it be one of those sails you rig when at anchor that helps to stop rolling?
 
Given the size, reinforcement and cut, it looks like a storm jib to me. Depends on the size of your boat of course. Do you have an inner stay that it maybe hanks onto? Or is there a removeable inner stay that is stored back at the mast maybe.
 
I think its meant to be a storm jib, and once you look through the mould its clearly new, and unused and I suspect it was sold for the boat (comes in the same sail bags as the other sails). The boat is a Jeanneau 34.2 and was sold from new with the roller reefing so I dont see how it was ever going to work. O and no there is no inner forstay,
 
It looks to be a similar cut to my Yankee that I fly from my inner forestay.
PS I use it mainly downwind when running under twin head sails, also as a backup for my furling Genoa, I once had the Genoa clew rip open and trying to sail into wind without a foresail is no fun.
 
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ifoxwell said:
I think its meant to be a storm jib, and once you look through the mould its clearly new, and unused and I suspect it was sold for the boat (comes in the same sail bags as the other sails). The boat is a Jeanneau 34.2 and was sold from new with the roller reefing so I dont see how it was ever going to work. O and no there is no inner forstay,
Click to expand...
Looks like a storm jib to me. I had a coded Jen 36.2. The spare halyard was kevlar or something like that. The various surveyors over the years were happy I could rig and tension that for hoisting the sail up.

Before the usual chorus begins, yes it did work, yes I did use it, dozens of times. :)
 
capnsensible said:
Looks like a storm jib to me. I had a coded Jen 36.2. The spare halyard was kevlar or something like that. The various surveyors over the years were happy I could rig and tension that for hoisting the sail up.

Before the usual chorus begins, yes it did work, yes I did use it, dozens of times. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'm thinking this is the most likely solution, once I get it out and sailing I'll give it a go and see if it works. What did you clip the halyard to. There is an eye just behind the anchor locker but i wouldn't call it structural so not sure Id be happy relying on it in a storm?
 
I think the orientation of the reinforcing strips might show it's purpose.
They are( usually/always?) oriented in line with the tension of the sheet/halyard so as to evenly spread the loads from the rope into the canvas. ie when the sail is set the reinforcing strip at the clew should roughly point at the origin of it's sheet.
Examine the picture. The strip at the head is not visible but the shape of the sail dictates roughly in what direction is must point. The one closest the camera, the foot, is self-evident and conforms to that expectation.
The critical one, the clew looks as if it more or less bisects the angle of the foot/leech intersection but it isn't very clear. With a sail that shape flown as a stays'l firstly I don't think it could be that shape in the first place as it just wouldn't set, and secondly a sheet pulling at that angle would be ralmost parallel to the water and 4m above it - so impossible to bring down to deck.

Perhaps the OP could provide a better pic of each corner plus different perspectives of the sail.

Finaly, Q to the OP. How heavy does the material feel? is it normal weight sailcloth for a sail of that size or is it seriously stiff and heavy? That alone should indicate it's purpose.

Could the boat have been built with a hank-on rig and later converted to roller furling - and this is a historic hand-me-doen?
 
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My first thought was storm jib, but there are a couple of things that aren't quite right.

Looking at the legs of the man in the picture, that sail seems to be pretty small. It also isn't orange. Which would be "unusual" for a storm jib these days to put it mildly.

Assuming that man is approx 6 foot, then it looks like it has a luff length of somewhere around 3.5m, i,e roughly twice the height of the man, does that seem about right? If it's a storm jib made to ORC rules (which I suspect most sailmakers would be guided by, even if building for a cruising boat) then the luff must be shorter than 65% of the height of the foretriangle, or "I" in this diagram.
531b4b6667c2b54e8cd1e8098cfabdc1.gif


Google tells me that the 34.2 has an I of 12.4m.

Which would give a max luff length for a storm jib of approx 8m.
Area is limited to 5% of the height of the foretriangle squared. So 7.6 m2. Again that sail looks a lot smaller than that. Unless I'm completely missing the scale of the picture!

So this seems, to me at least, to be a very small sail in a suspiciously not orange cloth....

I'm also drawn to the fact that there is a rope attached to what appears to be the tack of the sail.
Whilst it is common to use a strop on the tack of a storm jib, I have never seen one that isn't wire. And it's difficult to see clearly, but that rope looks suspiciously "low tech" to be used as the tack line of a storm sail. It also looks long for that purpose.

Therefore I'm not totally convinced that we are looking at a storm jib. And as Old Bumbulum alludes to this could in fact be the often mentioned, but very rarely seen, riding sail to be hanked to the backstay. The purpose being to stop the boat swinging at anchor.

Something like this maybe?

Alt_Riding%20sail1.jpg


But as others have said, cloth weight is going to be the biggest clue. If it's heavy then you could still be looking at an extremely small and not orange storm sail.
The sailmaker's logo is not one that I'm familiar with, can you tell us who made the sail? That may provide other clues...
 
I have a storm jib that came with hanks like that, it also came with a sleeve that fits around the furled roller genoa that has rings for the hanks to hank on to. It tacks down to a bow mooring cleat that is just aft of the forestay fitting. I have used it, but never in anger.
 
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