Mainsail... a wimp of a sail?

Nostrodamus

Nostrodamus

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www.cygnus3.com
For what it costs the mainsail seems a pretty inefficient sail.
Granted it looks nice when all the sails are up but there must be a more efficient design.
I love my genoa which gives us some real sailing power but the main is just a wimp when it comes to decent sailing.
 
With in mast furling it is a bit less powerful than it could be. It should improve windward drive with the effect of the slot and it should balance the boat to allow less rudder loading and easier autohelm/steering.

Get a fully battened larger roach and you will notice more power.
 
When sailing to windward the main needs the jib to create the 'slot' and improve it's efficiency. My boat has a fractional rig with a big mainsail but it still won't go to weather until I hoist even a small jib. Downwind is another matter of course where a big main / long boom comes into it's own. If your boat has one of the IOR style high aspect main / large genoa rigs then the genny is doing most of the work as you rightly say, and it will probably be a demon to weather!
 
Nostrodamus said:
For what it costs the mainsail seems a pretty inefficient sail.
Granted it looks nice when all the sails are up but there must be a more efficient design.
I love my genoa which gives us some real sailing power but the main is just a wimp when it comes to decent sailing.
Click to expand...

What sort of boat do you have? I'm guessing you have a new main from the wording, so how much effort are ou putting into trimming it?

Even on an old IOR boat with postage stamp sized mains you get a lot out of them: we had to lower one briefly during a race for repairs and went from 1st to 8th just like that. That was despite having a huge brand new laminate genny.
 
Why not chop down the mast and add a bigger engine?

I could arrange for a specialist team of ginger Scots engineers to come over and do the work for you, if my pal Hamish from the Forestry Commission would lend me his chain saw for a week or so.
 
Nostrodamus said:
For what it costs the mainsail seems a pretty inefficient sail.
Granted it looks nice when all the sails are up but there must be a more efficient design.
I love my genoa which gives us some real sailing power but the main is just a wimp when it comes to decent sailing.
Click to expand...

Get thyself a Gaffer ! :)

AEOLUS-2.jpg
 
Mainsail quite useful when the other sail breaks, or when going downwind. Or reducing roll when motoring. Or sailing a balanced spread of sail, or maximising the amount you can put up.
Or assisting the underpowered engine At very fine wind angles..Or or or. Shut up Blueboatman. The OP has stated that the mainsail is now redundant . Phew. That should save a few bob
 
Nostrodamus said:
For what it costs the mainsail seems a pretty inefficient sail.
Granted it looks nice when all the sails are up but there must be a more efficient design.
I love my genoa which gives us some real sailing power but the main is just a wimp when it comes to decent sailing.
Click to expand...

I have a masthead rig and big overlapping genoas and I used to think that about my old mainsail. But when I replaced it a couple of years ago I was amazed at the difference. Often now we roll up the headsail approaching harbour and find that we are still sailing at a reasonable pace with just the main up. That never used to happen!

The new sail needs a lot of vang and/or mainsheet tension to achieve its best shape and we had to strengthen the attachment point for the vang on the boom as the hard leach of the new sail broke the old one twice in quick succession. It is a conventional slab-reefed sail, loose-footed with battens extending about 1/3 the width but well made from a premium Dacron cloth.
 
It gets you about another 15-20 degrees to windward, least it does on mine - run out of puff about 60 apparent with only the genoa. Masthead rig, fully battened main & 125% genoa
 
Neil_Y said:
It's on the post, looks like a horrible in mast roller loose footed main so flat and no power at the top as no roach.n
Sorry I'm just a fully battened fan!
Click to expand...

I'm not a great fan of clicking on links, but I went back and had a look.

The OPs post makes more sense now.
 
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