making my yacht a cutter rig

[alexrunic]

Hi'
me and a mate were messing about on a sailing trip at the weekend with light winds. He came up with the idea of making my Macwester Rowan 22 a cutter rig. We had a go at fitting an inner forestay using a block and line which was fitted half way up the mast. we then tried the various different sized jibs i had unfortunately they were too big or my storm jib was too small. do you think it would be worth my while getting a correctly size sail or I'm i just waisting my time and will not get any extra speed??

Thanks

Alex

 

[Salty John]

I don't know the boat but I doubt you'd get any noticeable increase in speed just adding an extra sail inside the present jib.
What you could try is a bowsprit and then add an inner forestay - that might work. Then again, it might not.

 

[Athene V30]

Be careful that you don't stress the mast (or the deck) where it has insufficient support by adding another forestay.

Not sure if a benefit of cutter rig is more speed, thought it was more about reducing the size of individual sails to make them more easily handled.

 

[ebbtide]

The Rowan's big brother, the Mac 26, was famed for horrific weather helm only resolved by adding a bowsprit with more sail up front. If that's your problem, then go for it.
The real problem is that a chubby 22ft bilge keeler won't go very fast period - that's from someone who learned on a 16ft Silhouette!
I recommend saving your pennies and graduate to summat bigger. (hint: and with a fin keel - tho the twin keel Seawolf 26, amongst others, isn't a bad compromise.)

 

[Krusty]

If you already have a jib that fills the fore-triangle in the sail-plan, or a genoa, adding a staysail will not improve your speed to windward in light winds; it will probably slow you down by interfering with the flow between jib and main!
You might find a slight improvement on a reach, but only if you get everything exactly right; the sail shapes, spacing and sheeting angles.
I moved the 'baby stay' on my boat to parallel the forestay but had (#1 + #2) high-clew jibs and staysail made to suit the new rig. I can use the staysail with the genoa with advantage when reaching, but the real gain is in rising winds when a genoa is too big and should be part-rolled or changed for a jib. In strong winds the combination of staysail and #2 or #3 jib becomes a real powerhouse.
The genoa and #1 are shown in my recent post 'Shakedown' on Scuttlebut, with photos. The #2 and staysail are my atavar.
I'm all for improving on the over-popular and almost universal genoa!

 

[Wansworth]

I would suggest you dont bother,lots more string , the mast should be removed further aft,deck strengthening and the sails will be too small to hols the wind and you ill sail with the genny when the novelty wears off My dad had a 30 cutter and almost alway sailed with the roller genny.The rig has to be desined from the outset.

 

[Refueler]

I've often mused about a short bowsprit to carry a second foresail ahead of existing. I was thinking to fly a small genny yanky style - that's no stay - just the luff and halyard. The tack would be a line back to foredeck to also tension sail once halyard set-up. This set-up then allows the sheets to bring sail right in onto deck when you drop it ...

Sprit doesn't need to be too long either ... 3ft is enough on my 25ft boat.

 

[doug748]

I think you may be wasting your time - though It can be good fun to try anyway.
A couple of seasons back I blew out my genoa and was reduced to a small jib, to compensate I tried flying various sails on the emergency forestay.
...... Useless!

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

One of the benefits not yet mentioned is that it does allow a small sail to be set well back from the bow, thus potentially offering better boat balance when it really blows....

Have you thought of a slutter instead of a cutter?

Less mast stress to worry about.....

 

[William_H]

The inner forestay on a mast head rig is usuallyconnected to apoint half way up the mast. This is far too low for any serious sail except perhaps the tiniest of storm jibs. A cutter rig will typically have the inner forestay at 2/3 point and the front forestay to a bow sprit to provide separation.

A cutter rig is primarily used to enable appropriate sized and shaped sails to be used in a blow where the big forward sail can be removed or furled.

Modern furlers can reduce this value by making it easy to furl the jib down to a smaller size albeit with usually a poor shape.

If you simply want to go faster. Then more sail will not achieve that in stronger winds. ie the stiffness of the boat limits the sail carrying ability.

In lighter winds go for a code 0 ie a large very light genoa possibly on a short bow sprit. This will give a performance improvement when off the wind but may not point so well as with well sheeted in genoa on the wind.
Or go for a spinnacker of some sort.

best still get a faster boat. ie lighter fin keel fractional rig. olewill

 

[neil_s]

I have done it on my Seal 28. I use the staysl when sailing in strong winds - so it is necessary to make sure everything is up to scratch. The staysl matches well to the reefed mainsail. In light winds, though, I revert to genoa only. I fitted my inner forestay with a pelican hook so that I could stow it near the mast when not wanted. The most difficult job was working out where to fit the staysl sheeting positions and how to guide the sheets to the winches.

Cheers! Neil