Loose or fixed footed mainsail???

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PhilipMcLaughlin

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A sail maker has suggested having the main sail loose footed instead of being held in the slot on the boom as it is now. The slot in the boom at present holds the sail and sailcover. This is to improve the fixing of a new pack away sailcover which will be fixed in the boom slot by itself. The yacht is a Hanse 301. Is this a good idea having the main loose footed??? The sail maker thinks it will make no difference to sail performamce.

Cheers - Phil
 
Yes there will be no real change in performance assuming the slot is reasonably narrow. It does easily faciltate induction of lots of camber in the foot of the sail. go for it. olewill (With losse footed main)
 
I bought a main 2n months ago and the six sail makers who quoted me all advised loose foot, which I went for.
 
I have run a loose footed main on a Moody 31 for a season and then changed to a stack-pack type system which meant running the bolt rope in the boom slot. Now I'm no expert but for cruising I could see/feel no difference. I am aware that most people who run loose footed do so to obtain a better sail shape but for ease considering your current system I would stick with running the foot of the sail in the boom.
 
Loose-footed

Easier to cut and to change the shape, less likely to get baggy over time.

Whilst it 's true you'll not get and absolute increase in performance, you'll be using the sail better and thus improve all-round performance.

It's especially valuable for fully battened mains.

It does have one downside, you can't build in a big ledge for light weather sailing, but those who had a zipped ledge were few and far between.
 
I have a stack pack on a loose footed sail, the bolt rope goes into the boom but is not attached to the sail.
 
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I have a stack pack on a loose footed sail, the bolt rope goes into the boom but is not attached to the sail.

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I have the same system on my fully battend main and mizzen, additional benifits are from the ability to tie the reefing lines round the boom without having to add further fittings. My stack pack incorporates zips to facilitate this and after two seasons can really recommend the whole system, especially when combined with fully battend sails. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
The adjustment of the outhaul becomes a lot more important.
Many cruising yachts tend to fix and forget the outhaul on the boom.
Also as the power of the sail is no longer distrubuted along the boom there is a lot more power running through the clew so the outhaul system you are using will possibly need beefing up.
Remember that its not just the power in the sail that the clew will take but also the strain from the Kicking strap and upwind the mainsheet as well.
This localisation of strain can also lead to a hooked leach if the sail is not set up correctly.
Use leach tell tails to make sure the air is escaping from the leach correctly.
 
Just had a look at a few photos of the Hanse 301 and this one is a good example of badly set sails.
The leach tension on the main even with the conventional foot is horrible and it looks like the leech line on the jib was tensioned using a winch!!

2x.jpg
 
When we changed to a loose footed main, we found that the outhaul became a usable adjustment on the sail.

So now we had another string to change the shape of the sail. The new question was what shape should it be?

Its also much easier to take the main off without the bolt rope.
As for a stack pack, can you should be able to get your sail maker to sew a bolt rope into it.

OMK
 
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